UPDATE 1-Noah Education Q4 results beat Street estimates

(Recasts; adds details, share movement)

Aug 21 (Reuters) - China's Noah Education Holdings Ltd (NED.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by strong growth in its digital learning devices business.

For the fourth quarter ended June 30, net income for the provider of interactive education materials rose almost eight fold to $4.5 million, or 10 cents a share. Excluding items, it earned 11 cents a share.

Revenue rose 18 percent to $14.2 million.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 5 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $13.9 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales of digital learning devices were up 11.7 percent to about 78,700 units. Noah delivers its content primarily through these handheld devices.

Shares of the China-based company closed at $5.82 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by A.Ananthalakshmi in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva) ((ananthalakshmi.as@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: ananthalakshmi.as.reuters.com@reuters.net))