Feb 24 - Shoe maker Crocs Inc swung to a quarterly profit on strong demand across regions and forecast a strong year ahead, sending its shares up 5 percent.

Crocs

For the fourth quarter, the company earned $4.7 million, or 5 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $11.4 million, or 13 cents a share last year.

The company, which had lost some of its popularity in the recent past and struggled with falling sales, has been streamlining itself, lowering inventory levels and revamping product designs to get customers back.

Crocs, which sells colorful plastic clogs, saw sales rise across the board. Net sales in the quarter rose 32 percent to $179.2 million.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 2 cents a share, on revenue of $165.9 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the first quarter, the company expects to earn about 19 cents a share, with revenue of about $215 million.

Shares of the company rose 5 percent after the bell on Thursday. They closed up 5 percent at $18.09 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)