UPDATE 4-Burger King beats estimates, but renovations weigh

(Adds analyst comment, details on margins, byline; updates share activity)

By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES, May 1 (Reuters) - Burger King Holdings Inc (BKC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted better-than-expected earnings and raised its full-year profit forecast on Thursday, but said costs related to restaurant renovation would weigh down margins in the current quarter.

Burger King, best known for its Whopper hamburgers, has been sprucing up old outlets and expanding value menu items and business hours in a bid to catch up with rivals.

Those efforts have helped the chain post stronger same- store sales growth than big rivals such as McDonald's Corp (MCD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

"Same-store sales in the United States killed McDonald's and Yum," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Steve West, who added the company gave investors a temporary shock when it outlined on its conference call how commodities and remodeling costs will impact short-term profitability.

"Remodels will start to pay for themselves" in the new fiscal year starting in July, said West, who has a buy on Burger King shares.

The world's second-largest hamburger chain on Thursday said net income rose to $41 million, or 30 cents per share, in the third quarter ended on March 31 from $34 million, or 25 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had been expecting it to earn 27 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.