Department store operator Kohl's Corp reported a larger-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by inventory controls and sales of brands it offers exclusively.

Kohl's net profit rose 20 percent to $193 million, or 63 cents a share, in the third quarter ended October 31, from $160 million, or 52 cents a share, a year earlier.

Kohl's sales rose 6.5 percent to $4.1 billion in the third quarter. It also reported same-store sales - sales at stores open at least a year - were up 2.4 percent during the quarter.

Analysts, on average, had been expecting a profit of 61 cents per share and sales of $4 billion during the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Kohl's expects total sales to rise between 3 percent 6 percent in the fourth quarter. It expects same store sales will range between a 1 percent decline to a 2 percent gain.

It forecast fourth-quarter earnings of between $1.14 and $1.24 per share. Analysts were expecting a fourth quarter profit of $1.25 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Derek Caney)