PARIS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - L'Oreal's shares rose on Friday after the world's biggest cosmetics group reported higher-than-expected revenue growth for the fourth quarter.

L'Oreal's shares were up 1.2% in early session trading, among the best performers on France's benchmark CAC-40 index .

The French group reported late on Thursday that sales had reached 7.88 billion euros ($9.5 billion) in the October to December period, flat from a year earlier on a reported basis but a rise of 4.8% on a like-for-like basis, without currency effects and acquisitions, beating forecasts.

"L'Oréal's industry outperformance demonstrates the power of its well diversified and high-quality brand portfolio," wrote investment bank Jefferies, which kept a "hold" rating on the stock.

($1 = 0.8256 euros) (Reporting by Sarah White and Piotr Lipinski; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)