Jan 28 (Reuters) - Columbia Sportswear Co (COLM.O) on Thursday 28 January reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results on improved sales in its footwear, accessories and direct-to-home businesses and said reduced discounting will boost gross margins in the current quarter.

Collection Columbia Sportswear

Net income in the fourth quarter totaled $23.1 million, or 68 cents per share, up from $18.6 million, or 55 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had been expecting earnings of 39 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 1 percent to $358.3 million, compared with analyst expectations of $331.2 million.

First quarter 2010 gross margins are expected to improve by about 2 percentage points, the company said, due to a smaller proportion of low-margin sales of excess fall inventory. Columbia sees sales in the quarter rising by 4 to 5 percent.

Shares of the Portland, Oregon-based company were up slightly at $40.79 in trading after the bell. They had closed at $40.47 Thursday 28 January on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore; Editing by Anthony Kurian)