Customer Steven Price sits at a table near a HDTV screen showing the new McDonald's Channel
Customer Steven Price sits at a table near a HDTV screen showing the new McDonald's Channel featuring a commerical about McCafe drinks at a McDonald's restaurant, part of the test market for the channel in Norwalk, California October 17, 2011. REUTERS

McDonald's Corp. reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by new menu items in the U.S. and a tiered price menu in Europe that includes premium and lower-priced selections.

The world's biggest fast-food chain said third-quarter net income rose to $1.51 billion, or $1.45 per share, from $1.39 billion, or $1.29 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average forecast $1.43 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

McDonald's shares rose 1.5 percent in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman in Chicago and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; editing by John Wallace)

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