Kohl's tops profit estimates, raises earnings forecast

May 22 (Reuters) - U.S. department store chain Kohl's Corp topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday, as efforts to cut back on discounts and maintain a leaner inventory paid off, helping the company to lift its annual profit forecast.

Kohl's shares rose 5 percent to $68.75 in premarket trading after the company also reported comparable-store sales above expectations.

Big department store chains have had a mixed first quarter. Kohl's upbeat results follow lower-than-expected comparable sales at Nordstrom Inc and J.C. Penney, while Macy's raised its annual profit forecast thanks to higher customer spending.

Kohl's now expects adjusted earnings of between $5.05 and $5.50 per share for the 2019 fiscal year, compared with an earlier forecast of earnings of $4.95 to $5.45 per share.

Sales at Kohl's stores open for at least 12 months climbed 3.6 percent in the first quarter ended May 5, compared with the 2.7 percent increase expected by analysts on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net income rose 13.6 percent year-over-year to $75 million. Excluding one-time items, Kohl's earned 64 cents per share, topping analysts' estimates of 50 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 3.5 percent to $4.21 billion and exceeded expectations of $3.95 billion.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)