* Cuts 2015 adj EPS view by $0.20 to about $5.65
* 3rd-qtr adj EPS $1.22 vs est $1.27
* 3rd-qtr rev $1.46 bln vs est $1.48 bln
* Shares fall as much as 15 pct (Adds CEO comments, details; updates shares)
By Abhirup Roy and Sai Sachin R
April 30 (Reuters) - Harman International Industries Inc , the maker of JBL and Harman Kardon audio systems, cut its profit forecast and said a strong dollar was blunting its edge against overseas rivals in its professional audio equipment business.
Shares of the company, which also reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit, fell as much as 15 percent, marking their worst single-day loss in more than two years.
The dollar rose about 9 percent against a basket of currencies in the three months to the end of March, eating into sales and profits at several U.S. multinational firms.
Harman Chief Executive Dinesh Paliwal said Harman's Germany and Japan-based rivals for its professional audio equipment business are getting a pricing advantage as their home currencies fall in value against the dollar.
The professional unit, which makes loudspeakers, headphones and mixing consoles, contributes nearly a sixth to Harman's total revenue and competes with Japan's Yamaha Corp and Germany's Sennheiser Electronic GmbH among others.
"We are addressing our fixed cost issue by taking two of the factories in Europe into the best cost place (and) we are also addressing our overall design to cost," Paliwal said.
He expects professional audio business to bounce back in the next three to four quarters.
Harman, which gets a majority of its revenue from outside the United States, cut its forecast for adjusted earnings per share by 20 cents to about $5.65.
Harman also said it received new orders worth $3.2 billion from automakers such as BMW and Daimler AG in the first four months of 2015.
"While we didn't anticipate the professional headwinds, the automotive awards were very strong," RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak wrote in a client note. "We would take advantage of the entry point."
Harman shares recovered some of their losses to trade down 5.8 percent at $132 by midday. They shot up 31 percent so far this year through Wednesday.
Net income attributable to Harman rose to $87 million, or $1.22 per share, in the third quarter ended March 31, from $78 million, $1.12 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned $1.22 per share.
Revenue rose 4 percent to $1.46 billion.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of $1.27 per share and revenue of $1.48 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. (Editing by Joyjeet Das and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)