April 24 (Reuters) - Electric utility company Entergy

Corp ( ETR ) missed Wall Street estimates for first-quarter

profit on Wednesday, hurt by higher operating expenses and lower

sales.

The utility, which serves three million customers in

Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, posted a drop in

industrial consumers, falling 2.1% to 43,849 from 44,784 year

over year, edging profits lower.

On an adjusted basis, the firm posted a profit of $1.08 per

share for the quarter that ended March 31, below the average

analysts' estimate of $1.51 per share, according to LSEG data.

Overall, sales were down 0.5% to 31,172 gigawatt-hours (GWh)

due to lower commercial and industrial sales.

Additionally, operating expenses were 1.6% higher at $2.6

billion due to higher operating and maintenance costs.

The company also reported a 12 cents per share impact from

weather, as winter storms at the start of the year caused

outages in its key service territories.

Quarterly income fell to $75 million from $311 million in

the prior-year quarter due to higher depreciation and

amortization expenses in the utilities segment.

The company, however, reaffirmed its full-year adjusted

profit forecast between $7.05 and $7.35 per share.