Acuity Brands Q3 Profit Tops Estimates

reported upbeat earnings for its fiscal third quarter on Wednesday. The Atlanta, Georgia-based company reported a quarterly profit of $64.5 million, or $1.48 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $43.8 million, or $1.01 per share. Excluding items, the company's profit surged to $1.37 per share from $1 per share. Its revenue rose 13 percent to $683.7 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.34 per share on revenue of $686.47 million. The average estimate among 9 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.35 per share and revenue of $689.15 million. Sales of LED-based products climbed around 55 percent year-over-year in the latest quarter. Operating profit jumped 37 percent year-over-year to $99.2 million for the third quarter. At the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2015, the company had $652.1 million in cash and cash equivalents. Vernon J. Nagel, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Acuity Brands, said, "We were extremely pleased with our record fiscal 2015 third quarter results…We believe our record third quarter results reflect the on-going recovery in new construction, continuing conversion to solid-state lighting, and our ability to provide customers truly differentiated value from our industry-leading portfolio of innovative lighting and control solutions along with superior service." Mr. Nagel added, "We remain very bullish about our prospects for continued future profitable growth. Third-party forecasts as well as key leading indicators suggest that the growth rate for the North American lighting market, which includes renovation and retrofit activity, will be in the mid-to-upper single digit range for our fiscal 2015 with expectations that overall demand in our end markets will continue to experience solid growth over the next several years. Our order rates through the month of June reflect this favorable trend." Acuity Brands shares rose 2.98 percent to $185.34 at 10:00 a.m. ET.