(Adds comments from CEO, conference call, updates stock price, adds byline)

By Duncan Martell

SAN FRANCISCO, March 6 (Reuters) - National Semiconductor Corp (NSM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday that quarterly profit dropped, but results matched expectations, and the analog chipmaker forecast revenue that investors see as reachable, sparking a jump of nearly 9 percent in its shares.

Revenue growth in the just-reported quarter was crimped in part by weaker shipments to wireless telephone handset customers in China.

"The stock's trading up because they laid out a number that's achievable," said American Technology Research analyst Doug Freedman, referring to the sales forecast. "The Street's going to like it because we're likely not to have any more downward revisions."

The company, whose chips are used in everything from cars to cell phones and by the aerospace industry, forecast sales in the current quarter of $440 million to $460 million. Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates currently expect revenue of $462.2 million.

Chief Executive Brian Halla said the company can reach his current-quarter sales forecast -- based on low inventories among its distributors, its own current backlog and inventories, and the outlook of its major customers.

"I could see it going above the high end of the range," Halla said via telephone. "The last thing I could see happening is going below the low end of the range.

At the same time, Halla said the company was mindful of the impact of the subprime crisis on the U.S. economy. "We're not Pollyanna about how this subprime thing has peed in everyone's soup," he said, referring to the subprime mortgage crisis.