Delphi Automotive tops profit forecast

NEW YORK (AP) - Delphi Automotive PLC last Thursday reported a 69 percent surge in second-quarter profit, beating Wall Street expectations, and disclosed it is buying HellermannTyton Group to boost its auto technology offerings. The vehicle parts maker said its net income rose to $645 million, or $2.23 per share, mainly on the sale of its thermal business. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.34 per share. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.33 per share. The England-based company's revenue fell 5 percent to $3.86 billion in the period as a stronger U.S. dollar cut into sales. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.88 billion. Delphi will pay about 1.07 billion pounds, or $1.85 billion, for Hellermann, which makes cable fasteners and equipment. "With consumers now demanding more connectivity in their vehicles, electrical architecture is the enabler to that added vehicle content," said Kevin Clark, Delphi president and CEO, in a statement. "HellermannTyton positions Delphi to provide customers with an even broader portfolio of highly engineered and customized connection systems and cable management solutions." For the current quarter ending in September, Delphi Automotive expects its per-share earnings to range from $1.25 to $1.35. It expects revenue in the range of $3.7 billion to $3.9 billion for the fiscal third quarter. Delphi Automotive expects full-year earnings in the range of $5.30 to $5.40 per share, with revenue ranging from $15.2 billion to $15.6 billion. Delphi Automotive shares have risen almost 8 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen slightly more than 2 percent. The stock has climbed 15 percent in the last 12 months. -------- Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DLPH at http://www.zacks.com/ap/DLPH Published: Mon, Aug 03, 2015