UPDATE 3-Supervalu 4th-qtr profit tops view, stock up

(Adds analyst comment; updates share activity; previous CHICAGO)

LOS ANGELES, April 17 (Reuters) - Supervalu Inc (SVU.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), owner of Albertsons and other supermarket chains, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by lower interest expenses, and reiterated its current-year forecast, sending shares up as much as 6.6 percent.

But sales at stores open at least four quarters were flat as consumers continue to cut back in a weak economy, and pharmacy sales were hurt by a slower cold and flu season.

The results come after the company's stock fell more than 22 percent for the year.

"Their performance was fine and maybe expectations were that it wouldn't be," Mitchell Corwin, an analyst at Morningstar said. But he noted that the improved earnings came from things like lower interest expense comparison to a year-earlier quarter that included a large charge.

Supervalu "delivered few surprises in its (fourth quarter) which, given the poor sentiment surrounding the supermarket sector, is a notable positive," Goldman Sachs analyst John Heinbockel said in a client note.

Supervalu, which closed its upstart Sunflower Market organic and natural foods stores in February, had fourth-quarter net income of $156 million, or 73 cents per share, in the fiscal fourth quarter that ended Feb. 23.

Its year-earlier net income was $120 million, or 57 cents per share, including charges from the sale of Scott's Foods & Pharmacy stores, stock option expenses and other items.

Analysts, on average, were looking for a profit excluding items of 71 cents per share on revenue of $10.2 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.