Wal-Mart Q1 profit rises on international******

NEW YORK, May 17 (Bloomberg): Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), the world's largest retailer, posted a 3.8 percent gain in first-quarter profit, beating analysts' estimates as growth abroad helped make up for U.S. sales declines. Profit from continuing operations advanced to $3.43 billion, or 98 cents a share, including a 1-cent foreign exchange gain, the company said today in a statement. Analysts on average predicted 95 cents, according to a Bloomberg survey. Sales rose 4.3 percent to $103.4 billion. Sales abroad in the quarter ended April 30 climbed 6.2 percent on a constant currency basis, bolstered by the retailer's expansion in China, Chile and Mexico. That helped overshadow a 1.1 percent drop at U.S. Wal-Mart stores open at least a year, the eighth in a row. "The best thing they have going for them is the international side of the business," said Maggie Gilliam, president of retail consultant Gilliam & Co. in New York. Wal-Mart also forecast that the change in second-quarter fiscal 2012 comparable-store sales in the U.S. would be between negative 1 percent and positive 1 percent. Profit will be $1.05 to $1.10 a share, Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart said. Analysts on average anticipate $1.08.