Apr 28 - Children's clothing company Carter's Inc's quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates, driven by strong wholesale sales of its namesake brand, but the company forecast weak second-quarter earnings as rising costs of cotton offset a rise in sales.

Carter's Inc

For the second quarter, the company expects to earn 10-14 cents a share on sales growth of about 16-19 percent.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 18 cents a share on sales of $371.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Carter's, which owns retail stores and also sells its merchandise through discounters like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp, earned $32.1 million, or 55 cents a share in the first quarter, down from $42.8 million, or 71 cents a share, last year.

Net sales rose 15 percent to $469 million.

Analysts on average expected the company to earn 50 cents a share on revenue of $456.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the company closed at $32.56 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Abhishek Takle in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)