Lennox International posts 1Q net income of $8M

DALLAS (AP) -- Lennox International Inc. said Monday that it earned $8 million in the first quarter, reversing a loss in the same quarter the year before, helped by lower losses related to the sale of its service business.

The Dallas-based maker of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration products said its net income amounted to 16 cents per share and compared with a loss of $6.1 million, or 12 cents per share, last year.

Excluding losses related to its plans to sell the business, the company said it posted an adjusted profit from continuing operations of 33 cents per share compared with an adjusted 19 cents per share in the first quarter of 2012.

Revenue rose 9 percent to $668.4 million from $614.4 million.

The results easily beat Wall Street predictions. Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 27 cents per share on $633.9 million in revenue, according to FactSet.

Lennox said residential revenue increased 15 percent to $315 million, helped by an increase in new home construction and the company's efforts to boost replacement sales. Commercial revenue increased 4 percent to $163 million.

Lennox said that it's off to a good start for the year, but cautioned that the largest seasonal periods of the year are still to come and that economic uncertainty remains.

The company boosted the low end of its previous full-year earnings prediction by 10 cents, saying that it now expects to post an adjusted profit of $3.25 to $3.55 per share.

The company also narrowed its full-year revenue guidance to a range of 3 to 6 percent from its previous prediction of 2 to 6 percent. Based on the company's 2012 revenue of $2.95 billion, the narrowed guidance projects 2013 revenue of between $3.04 billion and $3.13 billion. Analysts expect an adjusted profit of $3.39 per share and sales of $3.09 billion.

Lennox shares rose 31 cents to $62.14 in morning trading.