Shares of Dice Holdings, owner of IT job board Dice.com, closed up almost 5 percent today, following news this morning that the company had a better quarter than Wall Street expected.

The company reported earning 5 cents a share or $3 million versus the average 2 cents a share analysts had estimated it would report for the quarter ended Sept. 31.  Though revenue was down a third to $26.7 million from last year’s $39.6 million, expenses were cut by 28 percent. The $3 million profit was just under half the $6.4 million Dice earned for the same quarter in 2008.

Revenue at the DCS unit which includes the company’s flagship Dice.com and also ClearanceJobs.com, declined from $27.2 million to $19.5 million. The company also took a $900,000 hit from an unfavorable exchange rate during part of the year, particularly in its eFinancial Careers operations, which have a strong overseas presence.

Despite the tough economy, company executives predicted Dice will do better for the year than analysts expect.

Officials predict revenue of $25 million for the current quarter and $108.3 million for the year. A Thomson Reuters survey of analysts expects the company’s 12 month revenue to be closer to $106 million.

In announcing the financial results, company Chairman, President, and CEO Scot Melland said, “The tone of our customer conversations improved during the third quarter as some customers and prospects became more optimistic about the business climate. This mild improvement is not consistent across geographies or customer segments, but it is encouraging.”