UPDATE 1-East West shares soar after it snaps up key rival

* Co sees profitability in first half of 2010

* Sees UCB deal to be highly accretive

* Shares up 57 pct on heavy volumes

(Recasts; Adds conference call details, analysts comments, updates share movement)

By Brenton Cordeiro

BANGALORE, Nov 9 (Reuters) - East West Bancorp (EWBC.O) said it expects to return to profitability by the first half of 2010, following its regulator-assisted acquisition of key rival United Commercial Bank (UCB) -- a unit of UCBH Holdings Inc UCBH.O -- on Friday.

"This acquisition is highly accretive and will return East West to profitability in the very, very near term," Chief Executive Dominic Ng said on a conference call with analysts.

Shares of East West Bancorp (EWBC.O) jumped to as much as 57 percent to touch a high of $13.57 in late afternoon trade Monday on Nasdaq, with the number of shares traded over nine times their 50-day moving average volume.

Analysts cheered the deal, with Morgan Stanley upgrading East West to "overweight" from "equal-weight," and at least two other brokers raising their price targets on the stock.