McDonald's Corp. reported better than expected profit growth for the first quarter on Tuesday on rising global sales.

The Oak Brook, Illinois-based fast food company said it earned a first quarter net income of 81 cents per share, or $946 million, compared with a year earlier at 62 cents, or $762.4 million.

Earnings surpassed analysts' expectations of 70 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial. Revenue was up 6 percent to $5.61 billion, beating expectations of $5.4 billion.

Global same-store sales at the fast food chain were up 7.4. The same-store sales figure measure only stores open at least 13 months.

U.S. same-store sales were up 2.9 percent for the quarter. Sales in Europe stores were up 11.1 percent. Its Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa stores were up 9.4 percent.

In the first two months of the year, U.S. same-store sales grew at 1.9 percent and 8.3 percent for January and February respectively. However March saw a decline of 0.8 percent. For April, the company says it expects sales to grow between 2 and 2.5 percent

Shares of McDonald's fell 28 cents, or 0.48 percent to $58.39 at 11:23 a.m. on the New York Stock Exchange.