Lear second-quarter profit beats expectations, raises full-year outlook

Automotive seat maker Lear Corp on Friday reported second-quarter earnings that handily beat Wall Street projections and increased its full-year outlook for sales and operating earnings.

Lear, based in suburban Detroit, showed net earnings, excluding one-time items, of $1.62 per share, which beat analysts' expectations of $1.37 per share.

Quarterly revenue rose to $4.11 billion from $3.66 billion a year ago and topped the analysts' estimate of $3.91 billion.

For 2013, Lear raised its sales outlook to $15.8 billion from a range of $15 billion to $15.5 billion in its previous forecast. It also increased its target for core operating earnings to between $750 million and $800 million from a previous outlook of $725 million to $775 million.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)