NEW YORK — Shares of Supervalu rose Thursday after the grocery store operator reported a higher quarterly profit less than a year after trimming its operations.

The Minneapolis-based company had sold five of its chains — including Albertson’s and Jewel-Osco — to focus on Save-A-Lot and smaller regional chains amid intensifying competition in the supermarket industry.

At Save-A-Lot stores open at least a year, the company said sales rose 1.7 percent during the period and cost-cutting helped boost operating earnings.

For the period ending Nov. 30, the company says it earned 31 million, or 12 cents per share. That’s compared with $16 million, or 8 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding one-time items, Supervalu Inc. said it earned 13 cents per share. That was a penny shy of Wall Street estimates, according to FactSet.

Net sale slipped 1 percent to $4.01 billion, short of the $4.05 billion analysts expected, according to FactSet.

Shares of Supervalu were up 3 percent at $7.25.

Supervalu has more than 3,300 stores.