Johnson Controls, one of the key diverse U.S. auto parts makers, also backed its fiscal-year outlook for earnings and raised its sales forecast even as the U.S. auto industry undergoes a sharp downturn.
DETROIT (Reuters) - Diversified manufacturer Johnson Controls Inc <JCI.N> said on Wednesday quarterly earnings rose 27 percent as income increased across its building controls, batteries and automotive parts businesses.
Johnson Controls, one of the key diverse U.S. auto parts makers, also backed its fiscal-year outlook for earnings and raised its sales forecast even as the U.S. auto industry undergoes a sharp downturn.
Net income rose to $289 million, or 48 cents per share, in its second quarter from $228 million, or 38 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 10.8 percent to $9.41 billion.
The earnings-per-share result exceeded the average analyst forecast by a penny and revenue exceeded the average forecast of $9.36 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Johnson Controls forecast double-digit earnings and sales growth at the start of its fiscal year in October, long before most automakers and analysts began to cut U.S. auto industry 2008 sales and production outlooks, and economists began to forecast the United States as at or heading toward a recession.
The company backed its fiscal-year earnings forecast of $2.45 to $2.50 per share from continuing operations and raised its revenue forecast by $1 billion to about $39 billion.
Analysts expect fiscal-year earnings of $2.47 per share on revenue of $38.39 billion.
Johnson Controls forecast third-quarter earnings per share of 74 cents to 76 cents from continuing operations and excluding the impact of a prolonged labor strike at a North American auto parts supplier. Analysts expect 75 cents.
(Reporting by David Bailey, editing by Mark Porter)
