Harman International Profits Rise 11%

Harman International's

(HAR)

second-quarter profit rose 11% from a year ago, helped by higher consumer multimedia product sales.

The company earned $72.54 million, or $1.07 a share, in the quarter, compared to $65.43 million, or 92 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were estimating earnings of $1.03 a share.

Revenue at the audio products and electronic systems manufacturer rose 5.6%, to $832.65 million, below the Wall Street consensus estimate of $855.46 million. Excluding foreign currency translation effect, revenue was up 12%.

Harman expects earnings of $3.85 a share at the current exchange rate for the fiscal year 2006. According to Thomson First Call, analysts were expecting $3.93 a share.

Operating profit increased by 16.43% to $115.86 million in the second quarter while operating profit margin rose 130 basis points to 13.91%.

The company operates three segments: automotive, consumer and professional.

Automotive sales were $547.6 million for the second quarter, an increase of 2% from the same period last year. Consumer sales increased 22% to $155.0 million. Professional sales were $130.0 million, an increase of 5% compared to the prior year period.

This story was created through a joint venture between TheStreet.com and IRIS.