June 20 (Reuters) - Kroger beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly same-store sales on Thursday, benefiting from more customers thronging to its outlets for lower-priced groceries as sticky inflation stretches household budgets.

Identical sales, excluding fuel, rose 0.5% at the supermarket chain in the first quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate for 0.13% growth, according to LSEG data. (Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)