Target Corp posted a higher quarterly profit on Wednesday as selling more food and offering card holders a 5 percent discount appealed to shoppers.

It earned $555 million, or 82 cents per share, in the fiscal third quarter that ended October 29, up from $535 million, or 74 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding costs related to Target's plan to open stores in Canada starting in 2013, profit was 87 cents per share in the latest period.

The company forecast fourth-quarter earnings of $1.43 to $1.53 per share, excluding certain items.

Target previously said third-quarter sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, rose 4.3 percent and that it expects such sales to rise in a low-to-mid single digit percentage range in November. It also already reported that third-quarter sales rose 5.4 percent to $16.05 billion.

Target shares were up 2.5 percent to $54.50 in premarket trade.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago; editing by John Wallace)

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