(Updates to add details from company call, analyst comment in paragraph 5 through 8)

By Srivastava Vallari

April 25 (Reuters) - CMS Energy reported a rise in first-quarter profit on Thursday, as the electric and gas utility benefitted from higher sales and improved weather which lowered storm-related restoration costs.

Operating expenses for the first quarter, which include restoration costs, fell to $1.76 billion from $1.97 billion in the year-ago quarter.

U.S. natural gas futures fell about 30% sequentially in the January-March quarter, which helped utilities such as CMS Energy reduce their costs.

Peers such as Xcel Energy and PG&E Corp also benefitted from lower operating expenses and beat analysts' expectations for first-quarter profit earlier today.

CMS Energy, during its post-earnings call, said it had secured a contract with a large data center in Michigan earlier this year. Utilities such as Southern Co, NextEra and American Electric Power have highlighted the ongoing AI and data center boom as a tailwind for earnings.

"This is nice load growth. And I'm even more excited about the manufacturing load growth we are seeing in Michigan, which is a differentiator for us," said CEO Garrick Rochow.

CMS Energy, which provides services to about 6.8 million customers across Michigan, also reaffirmed its full-year adjusted profit forecast of $3.29 to $3.35 per share, compared with analysts' estimates of $3.33 per share, per LSEG data.

"Forecast is conservative as always on this front, but we see the trends as encouraging," Scotiabank analyst Andrew Weisel said in a note.

The Jackson, Michigan-based firm said net income attributable to shareholders rose to $285 million, or 96 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 31, from $202 million, or 69 cents per share, a year ago. (Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Ravi Prakash Kumar)