HARTFORD, Conn. — Xerox Corp. said yesterday a litigation charge left it with a loss of $244 million in the first quarter, but its results excluding the one-time item matched Wall Street expectations.

Chief Executive Anne Mulcahy says tighter profit margins due to investment spending were offset by a lower tax rate.

The Norwalk-based office equipment maker said it lost the equivalent of 27 cents per share in the three months ended March 31 compared with $233 million, or 24 cents a share, a year ago.

Excluding the previously announced charge of 54 cents per share, the company earned 27 cents per share in the period, meeting expectations of analysts in a Thomson Financial poll.

Revenue rose 13 percent to $4.34 billion from $3.84 billion a year ago and above Wall Street's estimate for $4.24 billion. Its shares rose 33 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $14.83 in morning trading.

Xerox announced March 27 that it received approval to settle a securities lawsuit dating to 2000 and that it would take a $491 million charge related to the settlement. It did not admit to wrongdoing and agreed to settle to save time and money.

Xerox said it is accelerating the use of digital color printing in businesses and commercial print enterprises, with revenue from color up 13 percent in the first quarter. It represents 40 percent of Xerox's total revenue, up 3 percentage points from the same period last year.