RPT-UPDATE 2-Watson Pharma third-quarter net profit falls

* Q3 EPS ex-items of 66 cents vs 65-cent Wall St view

* Revenue up 3 pct at $662.1 mln

* Shares dip 12 cents (Repeating with no changes to text or headline) (Adds company outlook, stock price; changes dateline, previously NEW YORK)

CHICAGO, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc (WPI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted lower net income on Wednesday, as the generic drugmaker added spending to launch two brand-name medicines and saw lower revenue from its distribution unit.

Net income fell to $63 million, or 55 cents per share, from $71.1 million, or 62 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, earnings of 66 cents were a penny ahead of the average estimate of analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $662.1 million. Analysts expected $688.3 million.

The company revised downward its net earnings per-diluted-share forecast to $2.04 to $2.12 for 2009, from its July outlook of $2.13 to $2.21 per share.

But Watson affirmed its outlook adjusted earnings per share to be between $2.50 and $2.58 on revenue of $2.70 billion.