Quanta Services 1Q net income jumps 58 pct.

HOUSTON (AP) -- Quanta Services Inc., which builds and repairs electricity and natural gas transmission systems, said Thursday that first-quarter net income jumped 58 percent, helped by a steep increase in revenue at its electric power business.

The results beat Wall Street predictions and Quanta issued a better-than-expected profit outlook for the current quarter. Its shares rose more than 7 percent.

The Houston-based company posted a profit after preferred dividends were paid of $72.1 million, or 34 cents per share, up from $45.7 million, or 22 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2012.

Excluding one-time items, the company posted an adjusted profit of 38 cents per share for the recent quarter.

Revenue increased 19 percent to $1.59 billion.

Analysts, on average, expected 29 cents per share on $1.4 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

Electric power revenue jumped 27 percent to $1.18 billion, while natural gas and pipeline revenue rose less than 1 percent to $358.9 million. Quanta expects the performance of its electric power business to remain strong this year, with results at its natural gas and pipeline business picking up for the rest of 2013.

The company projected adjusted second-quarter earnings from continuing operations of 35 to 37 cents per share on $1.45 billion to $1.55 billion in revenue. Analysts expect 34 cents per share on $1.5 billion in revenue.

For all of 2013 Quanta expects to earn an adjusted $1.37 to $1.57 per share on $5.9 billion to $6.3 billion in revenue, while analysts estimate profit at $1.39 per share on $6.16 billion in revenue.

Quanta shares rose $2, or 7.4 percent, to $29.02 in midday trading, after peaking at $29.32 earlier in the session. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $21.15 and $29.94.