* Q2 adjusted net income seen between $135 mln and $155 mln

* Q1 adjusted net income $178 mln, beats Visible Alpha consensus

* Shares fall as much as 5.5% in early trade

Aug 13 (Reuters) - James Hardie Industries warned of a challenging second quarter on Tuesday, sending its shares down more than 5%, even as the fibre cement maker stuck by its annual profit forecast after beating analysts' estimates for the first quarter.

The Australia-listed firm forecast an adjusted net income of $135 million to $155 million for the second quarter, down from the $178.9 million reported for the prior corresponding period, citing softness in the North American market.

"We continue to expect the North American market for exterior products to be down low- to mid-single digits over the course of our fiscal year, and now anticipate that the market backdrop will be particularly challenging during our fiscal second quarter," CEO Aaron Erter said in a statement.

The Dublin-based firm said its adjusted net income came in at $178 million for the first quarter ended June, beating the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $167.3 million.

Global net sales, three-quarters of which come from the North American segment, rose 4% to $992 million.

"Whilst the Q2 guide is soft and points to a market that is deteriorating and not improving... a positive that FY25 guidance is unchanged," analysts at Jarden wrote in a note.

James Hardie reaffirmed its full-year income forecast of between $630 million and $700 million.

Meanwhile, analysts at Jefferies said the second-quarter guidance is "curious... given typical seasonality we have observed historically which suggests 2Q25 is typically a stronger quarter."

Shares of James Hardie fell as much as 5.5% to A$47.060 by 0037 GMT, while the broader benchmark index was largely flat.

(Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri and Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Subhranshu Sahu)