UPDATE 2-Prudential swings to 3rd-qtr profit

* Q3 EPS $2.35 vs loss of $0.25 yr-ago

* Q3 adjusted oper EPS $1.59, beating $1.33 Street view

* Raises forecast for 2009 adjusted EPS

* Shares up slightly in after-hours trade (Adds forecast, paragraph 6; stock movement)

NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Prudential Financial Inc (PRU.N), the No. 2 U.S. life insurer, said on Wednesday it had a third-quarter profit, reversing a year earlier loss, on record annuity sales and better performance in its investment portfolios.

Given the rally in equity markets and narrower credit spreads, Prudential forecast higher earnings for the full year. On an operating basis, the results beat Wall Street expectations, sending shares slightly higher.

While U.S. life insurers were badly hurt by higher costs on stock market-linked annuities and massive investment losses in late 2008 and into this year, Prudential and its larger rival MetLife Inc (MET.N), which reported results last week, have emerged in a position to take business from weakened rivals.

Newark, New Jersey-based Prudential said adjusted operating earnings, which exclude investment gains and losses, were $733 million, or $1.59 a share, compared with $430 million, or $1.02 cents a share in the same quarter last year.

On that basis, analysts on average had expected Prudential to earn $1.33 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.