* US Q4 economic growth handily beats expectations

* Comcast tops revenue estimates, shares rise

* American Airlines climbs on upbeat profit forecast

* S&P 500 +0.10%, Nasdaq -0.24%, Dow +0.11%

Jan 25 (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks climbed on Thursday as news of strong U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter boosted sentiment, while Tesla tumbled following a disappointing sales forecast.

The gains extended a rally in which the S&P 500 recently hit record highs for the first time in two years, lifted by optimism about the economy and lower interest rates, as well as bets on artificial intelligence.

Tesla slumped almost 13% to its lowest since May 2023 after CEO Elon Musk warned sales growth would slow this year despite price cuts that have hurt its margins. That left the car maker's stock market value at about $573 billion, falling below Eli Lilly and Broadcom.

The U.S.

economy grew faster than expected

in the December quarter amid strong consumer spending, confounding predictions of a recession after the Federal Reserve aggressively raised interest rates, with full-year growth of 2.5%.

"GDP was a good surprise for the market in that there wasn't problematic inflation, and the consumer continues to spend money," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategy director at U.S. Bank Asset Management Group. "And so there more support for the narrative that company earnings and sales growth should be better as we press forward."

Other data showed initial jobless claims for the week ended Jan. 20 rose to 214,000, higher than the estimated 200,000 figure.

Quarterly results next week from Apple, Microsoft , Amazon, Alphabet and Meta Platforms will give investors a glimpse of whether those heavyweight company's high valuations are warranted following surges in their stocks since Wall Street bottomed out in 2022.

The S&P 500 was up 0.10% at 4,873.43 points.

The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.24% to 15,445.36 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.11% at 37,846.57 points.

Other electric car makers fell following Tesla's quarterly report late on Wednesday. Rivian Automotive and Lucid Group dropped 2% and 6.6%, respectively.

Humana sank 11% after it became the latest health insurer to forecast disappointing annual profits, dragging the S&P 500 healthcare sector index down 0.8%.

UnitedHealth lost 6.3% and Cigna dropped 3.2%.

IBM jumped about 10% after forecasting full-year revenue growth above estimates, while Comcast added 4.3% after the media giant topped quarterly revenue estimates.

American Airlines soared almost 10% after the carrier forecast largely upbeat annual profits.

Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 82% have surpassed expectations, LSEG data showed. That compares to a long-term average beat rate of 67%.

Among other big movers, Boeing fell 6.3% after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration barred the troubled planemaker from expanding production of its 737 MAX narrowbody planes.

Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 2.7-to-one ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 46 new highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 85 new highs and 106 new lows.

(Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru, and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, Calif.; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Maju Samuel and Richard Chang)