Acuity Brands (AYI) reported fiscal third-quarter profit and sales that finished above Wall Street estimates, pushing its shares up more than 16% in the early hours of regular trading Tuesday.

Investors appear to have been excited by the industry-beating performance and increase in profitability, thus causing the shares to climb.

AYI stock has lost nearly 33% since the beginning of the year.

AYI Earnings & Outlook

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The company posted a net income of $73.0 million, or $1.80 per share, compared to a net income of $82.2 million, or $1.90 per share, in the same period last year.

Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings were $2.37 per share, while revenue totaled to $944.0 million.

Acuity Brands had a revenue of $891.6 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2017. Analysts surveyed by Thompson Reuters had modelled adjusted earnings per share of $2.17 on a revenue of $899 million.

Acuity Brands attributed the revenue rise to increased shipments of its products for utility and infrastructure projects, as well as higher demand for Atrius-based luminaires.

Looking ahead, the company expects to experience increased demand for products of its North American lighting segment.

The management believes the building management systems as well as lighting industry will grow rapidly in the next 10 years, as building owners and lighting equipment users continue transforming their investments into strategic assets. 

The Georgia-based lighting company believes that it is “uniquely positioned to fully participate in this exciting industry.”

Acuity Brands CEO Comments:

The Chief Executive Officer of Acuity Brands, Vernon J. Nagel, had this to offer on the results, “Our third quarter performance was solid, particularly against the backdrop of a challenging lighting market. Our net sales grew almost 6 percent in the third quarter, which was primarily due to greater shipments of our Atrius-based luminaires as well as increased shipments of products for infrastructure and utility projects, partially offset by lower net sales for larger commercial projects.”

Nagel continued, “Third quarter profitability measures were negatively impacted by unfavorable changes in product prices and mix of products sold as well as higher selling, distribution, and administrative expenses. We took a number of actions this quarter to improve our profitability, including relaunching our Contractor Select portfolio of basic, lesser featured products at competitive price points to more effectively and profitably compete in that certain portion of the market.”