NEW YORK (Reuters) - Off-price retailer TJX Cos Inc (TJX.N) reported a higher-than-expected profit in the third quarter as cash-strapped consumers continued to flock to its stores for lower-cost apparel and home goods.

Photo: www.tjmaxx.com

The owner of the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls chains said its profit had risen to $347.8 million, or 81 cents a share, in the third quarter ended October 31, from $235.8 million, or 54 cents a share, a year earlier.

TJX reported overall sales rose 10.1.percent to $5.24 billion in the third quarter. It also reported same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, were up 7 percent during the quarter.

Analysts on average forecast a profit of 80 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S and sales of $5.25 billion during the quarter.

TJX buys excess merchandise at below-wholesales prices and sells it at deep discounts, an approach that has drawn shoppers seeking to spend less on discretionary items such as clothes and home goods during the recession.

TJX Saks said last week that sales at stores open at least a year in October had risen 10 percent and forecast that same-store sales in the fourth quarter would rise between 5 percent and 7 percent.

Its outlook for the fourth quarter is for profit from continuing operations of 65 cents to 71 cents per share.

Shares of TJX fell 1.6 percent to $38.90 in premarket trade.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba, editing by Dave Zimmerman)