UPDATE 2-AECOM Q4 profit beats Street, shares rise

* Q4 EPS $0.48 vs est $0.46 year ago

* Sees 2010 EPS $1.90-$2.00 vs est. $2.02/shr

* Shares rise as much as 9 pct (Recasts; adds conference call and analyst comments)

By Divya Sharma

BANGALORE, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Engineering and design firm AECOM Technology Corp (ACM.N) posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, partly driven by lower expenses, and said federally funded projects would drive its growth in the next two years.

Shares of the company rose as much as 9 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

U.S. construction firms are expected to gain when a major portion of about $170 billion stimulus money allocated for the industry flows into key infrastructure and related projects in the coming months.

AECOM, which competes with companies such as Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC.N) and KBR Inc (KBR.N), has about 70 percent of its projects generated from public works, the company said on a conference call with analysts.

"We view it as a positive signal that U.S. stimulus funds have begun flowing through numerous federal and state agencies and this will be an important part of our growth strategy in 2010 and 2011," Chief Executive John Dionisio said on the call.