Newell Rubbermaid Inc's quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates on Friday on improving sales trends across all its markets, prompting the consumer products maker to raise its full-year outlook.

The maker of Rubbermaid containers and Sharpie pens termed sales growth across all its markets a significant inflection point from the trends of the last four quarters.

We are encouraged by early signs of improvement in the global economy and increased confidence on the part of our retail and industrial customers, Chief Executive Officer Mark Ketchum said in a statement.

Newell's first-quarter net profit rose to $58.4 million, or 19 cents a share, from $33.7 million, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned 25 cents a share, beating the analysts' average forecast of 18 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 8.5 percent to $1.3 billion, above the analysts' estimate of $1.21 billion.

Newell, whose other products include Graco strollers, Calphalon cookware and Paper Mate pens, now sees 2010 earnings of 1.38 to $1.48 a share, excluding items, up from its prior outlook of $1.35 to $1.45.

The company, which has won market share in the majority of its businesses, said in January that it expected sales to pick up more steam in the second half of 2010.

Newell now sees 2010 net sales growth at a low- to mid-single-digit percentage rate, compared with prior expectations in the low single digits. It still expects margins to rise by 0.75 to 1.00 percentage point.

(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Retail Manufacturing