Wal-Mart 4th quarter profit

NEW YORK, Feb X (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc on DAYday said its quarterly profit rose, despite a charge for its Japanese operations, after penny-pinching U.S. shoppers scoured its discount stores for low prices on necessities like food and laundry detergent.

Net income rose/fell to $XX , or xx cents per share, for its fiscal fourth quarter ended on January 31, from xx, or xx cents per share, a year earlier.

Income from continuing operations rose/fell to xx, or xx cents per share, from xx, or xx cents per share, a year earlier.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, had forecast fourth-quarter earnings per share from continuing operations of 99 cents to $1.03, including an after-tax restructuring charge of $40 million for its Japanese operations.

It said in October that it would acquire the remaining shares of its struggling Japanese supermarket subsidiary, Seiyu Ltd, to try to turn around the money-losing chain.

But it is also working to try to improve sales at its U.S. stores and appeal to its core lower-income shoppers, who are feeling the pinch of higher food and fuel costs and the downturn in the housing market.

It began cutting prices on select popular toys on September 30 and offered Thanksgiving-weekend type discounts on November 2 to kick-start its holiday sales.

It said quarterly revenue rose/fell to $.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose/fellxx percent.

(Reporting by Nicole Maestri)