NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Wall Street seems to love lighting products supplierAcuity Brands (AYI) - Get Report, pushing its shares near all-time highs. Expectations are still high ahead of the company's fiscal second-quarter earnings Wednesday.

Shares closed Monday at $172.57, up nearly 3% on the day, 23% for the year to date and 33% for the past 52 weeks.

Acuity's P/E of 40 may not appear cheap when compared to a P/E of 21 for the broader averages but the Atlanta company, which sells products through retailers including Home Depot (HD) - Get Report and Lowe's (LOW) - Get Report, has delivered double-digit earnings and revenue growth in six out of its last seven quarters.

Following its $252 million acquisition of Quebec-based Distech Controls, Acuity Brands is positioning itself as a leader in building automation and energy management technology. Acuity enjoys higher-than-expected demand today for its light-emitting diode (LED) products, which account for more than 40% of its total sales.

Earnings estimates in the last 90 days have climbed more than 8% for the just-ended quarter and are 4.6% higher for the May quarter, implying analysts don't expect the company's performance to falter.

For the quarter ended Feb. 28, earnings are expected to be $1.05 per share, marking a 40% jump above last year's earnings of 75 cents per share, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Revenue for the quarter is projected to climb 15% year over year to $628 million. Full-year earnings, ending in August, are projected to climb 34% to $5.32 per share, while full-year revenue is projected to be $2.72 billion, up 13.6%.

That Acuity is projected to grow full-year earnings at more the twice the rate of revenue (34% vs. 13.6%) underscores not only the company's attention towards profitability, it also lessens concerns about its valuation. In other words, even though its P/E of 40 may be high, Acuity can deliver on the profit expectations much sooner rather than later.

Why the optimism? Aside from the Distech Controls acquisition Acuity is increasing its margins in its current businesses, meaning it knows how to squeeze as much profits from each sales it makes. Equally important, it suggests Acuity is building pricing power over competitors.

In its first quarter, for instance, not only did revenue in its LED business climb more than 70% year over year, the company's delivered gross margins of 42.2%, which expanded by 90 basis points. Coupled with operating margins expanding 230 basis points to 14.9%, Acuity delivered earnings per share of $1.17, marking a 14% jump from its year-ago earnings of $1.03 per share.

So with full-year 2015 earnings projected to climb 34% and another 24% jump expected for full-year 2016, reaching $6.61 per share, there's still plenty of growth ahead. Its deal for Distech Controls may not yet be factored in and it has an average analyst 12-month price target of $183, calling for 9% gains above current levels of $168. So Acuity may yet be undervalued.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.