Shares of Johnson Controls International PLC JCI jumped 4.4% in premarket trading Friday, after the building products and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) company beat fiscal second-quarter earnings expectations and lifted its full-year outlook, citing a “healthy” pipeline and margin expansion. Net income rose to $133 million, or 19 cents a share, from $11 million, or 2 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of 75 cents beat the FactSet consensus of 73 cents. Sales grew 9.6% to $6.89 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $6.50 billion. Cost of sales increased less than sales, up 7.3% to $4.45 billion, as gross margin improved to 33.5% from 32.1%. The company raised its fiscal 2023 adjusted EPS guidance range to $3.50 to $3.60 from $3.30 to $3.60. “Our backlog remains resilient and the pace of converting higher margin business gives us confidence in our ability to deliver on our full year expectations,” said Chief Financial Officer Olivier Leonetti. The stock has lost 8.6% year to date through Thursday, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 5.8%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.