* L'Oreal Q3 sales 4.852 bln euros vs Reuters poll 4.724 bln
* Q3 like-for-like growth 5.8 pct vs Reuters poll 5 pct
(Adds details, CEO quotes)
PARIS, Oct 21 (Reuters) - L'Oreal, the world's biggest cosmetics maker, posted a forecast-beating 5.8 percent rise in comparable sales for the third quarter, helped by rebounding luxury brands such as Yves Saint Laurent and Lancome.
The maker of Garnier shampoo and Biotherm cream said on Thursday that sales in the three months to Sept. 30 reached 4.85 billion euros ($6.8 billion), beating an average forecast of 4.72 billion in a Reuters poll.
Analysts had expected the company to post a 5 percent rise in like-for-like sales for the quarter to Sept. 30, roughly in line with 5.2 percent growth achieved in the second quarter.
L'Oreal Chief Executive Jean-Paul Agon said in a conference call with analysts that both wholesale and retail luxury sales were evolving positively in the United States and Europe and even more so in the rest of the world.
Agon estimated growth in the luxury cosmetics market to be 5-6 percent this year, and L'Oreal's own growth would be slightly higher.
"We are No.1 in this (luxury cosmetics) business ... and we are slightly gaining market share," Agon added.
L'Oreal's luxury brands, hard hit by a spending slump last year, rose 5.7 percent on a comparable basis, boosted by its classic brands and the global roll-out of its Kiehl's skincare brand.
Agon said the European market for the company's consumer goods was still very stable and its Maybelline make-up line was "flying".
"The cosmetics markets is coming back to normal growth; it is not extraordinary, but it is positive, slightly positive, in Europe and the U.S.," Agon said.
Overall, the group's third-quarter growth in Western Europe, its biggest market, remained subdued, with a 1.5 percent rise in like-for-like sales, while North America was up 3.8 percent on the same basis and the Asia/Pacific market was up 11.5 percent.
Agon said he did not expect an improvement in trading in the United States but expected to continue gaining market share.
He said the group remained open to acquisitions but declined to comment on recent speculation L'Oreal could be preparing a bid for Avon in the United States.
L'Oreal steered clear of giving a precise forecast for the current year. It only repeated that it aimed to improve its profitability over 2010.
Like-for-like sales of L'Oreal's professional products used in hair salons rose 2.9 percent, while revenue from the consumer products division were up 6.5 percent.
L'Oreal shares, which have gained 9 percent so far this year, closed up nearly 3 percent on Thursday, lifted by the wider market and anticipation of good results. (Reporting by Astrid Wendlandt; Editing by David Holmes and Will Waterman) ($1=.7181 Euro)