UPDATE 2-BJ's Wholesale profit tops view; forecast raised

* Q1 EPS $0.45 vs Wall Street EPS view $0.43

* Q1 sales up 0.2 percent

* Raises full-year EPS view to $2.44-$2.54 (Adds sales details, estimates, background)

NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) - BJ's Wholesale Club Inc (BJ.N) posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as shoppers headed to its clubs for low prices on food and other necessities, and it raised its full-year earnings forecast.

The No. 3 U.S. warehouse club operator's net profit rose to $24.3 million, or 45 cents per share, for the fiscal first quarter ended May 2, from $17.2 million, or 29 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 43 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales rose 0.2 percent to $2.26 billion.

BJ's had raised its first-quarter earnings forecast earlier this month, citing higher-than-expected merchandise sales and margins. It forecast earnings of 41 cents to 45 cents a share, up from a prior forecast of 29 cents to 33 cents a share.

Warehouse clubs like BJ's, Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc's (WMT.N) Sam's Club have been appealing to shoppers who want discounts on staples such as groceries and toiletries as the recession crimps household budgets.

But they are facing greater challenges compared with a year ago when high gas prices drove sales at their fuel stations.

While BJ's overall sales rose in the first quarter, sales at clubs open at least one year fell 1.5 percent, including a 9 percent hit from gasoline sales.

On Wednesday, BJ's raised its per-share outlook for the full year ending Jan. 30, 2010, to $2.44 to $2.54. That is up from an already raised forecast of $2.42 to $2.52, which BJ's issued earlier in May.

Analysts expect a profit of $2.49 per share. (Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman, additional reporting by Nicole Maestri in San Francisco; Editing by Derek Caney, Dave Zimmerman)