Macy's, which also owns the upscale Bloomingdale's chain, reported net income of $181 million, or 43 cents a share, for the quarter that ended April 28, up 38 percent over the profit of $131 million, or 30 cents a share, a year earlier.

That was 3 cents better than what Wall Street analysts were forecasting, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. But Macy's left its full-year earnings forecast intact at $3.25 to $3.30 a share. That compared to analysts' expectations for $3.41 a share.

Macy's, which operates about 800 namesake stores as well as the Bloomingdale's stores, also said its gross margin, edged down 0.3 points to 38.8 percent of sales.

Macy's expects same-store sales to rise about 3.5 percent for the rest of this year this year.

Morningstar analyst Paul Swinand told Reuters that Macy's may have been facing pressure from rival Kohl's Corp., which lowered prices during the quarter, along with concerns about higher gas prices.

The chain showed signs of losing momentum. Same-store sales rose only 1.2 percent in April, in one of the rare times it has disappointed Wall Street of late.

As previously reported, Macy's same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, were up 4.4 percent in the first quarter. Online sales rose 33.7 percent, accounting for 1.5 percentage points of the same-store sales gain.

Macy's shares were down 4 percent to $37.80 in premarket trading.