When Bruker Corp. (NSDQ:BRKR) gave a presentation to analysts Jan. 13, it painted a rosy picture for its fourth-quarter results, saying revenues would exceed both its previous forecasts and analysts’ expectations.

Today the Billerica, Mass.-based lab and imaging equipment maker said Q4 results will be even better than that, predicting sales in excess of $355 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2009. That’s a 4.4 percent improvement over the $340 million in Q4 sales predicted back in January and a darn sight better than the $329.4 million Bruker posted in Q4 2008.

If the preliminary results bear out, it would lift full-year 2009 sales past the 2008 mark of $1.1 billion, to nearly $1.4 billion. Bruker, however, cautioned that the results are still preliminary and won’t be official until its audited fourth-quarter and full-year results are released, an event slated for Feb. 25. Bruker shares were up 3.3 percent to $12.67 in after-hours trading, after closing out the day at $12.27.

The company also made official some previously announced moves in its executive suite, meaning CFO Bill Knight is will now sit in the newly created COO seat, and chief accounting officer Brian Monahan replaces Knight as Bruker’s finance chief. And Bernd Gewiese and Werner Maas are now officially co-presidents of the company’s BioSpin division, replacing Dirk Laukien, a scion of the company’s founding family who is stepped down from his day-to-day role in the company but retains his seat on its board of directors.