Coal miner Peabody's profit jumps, beats forecasts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Coal producer Peabody Energy Corp (BTU.N) said on Wednesday its second-quarter profit more than doubled, easily beating Wall Street forecasts, as soaring global demand drove prices higher.

Net income was $233.4 million, or 86 cents per share, compared with $107.7 million, or 40 cents per share, a year earlier, the St Louis-based miner said.

Earnings from continuing operations were 89 cents per share, easily beating analysts' consensus estimates of 57 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenues for the quarter rose to $1.53 billion from $1.07 billion a year.

Peabody, whose coal fuels approximately 10 percent of all U.S. electricity generation, also raised the low end of its forecast for full-year earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization to between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion, up from the $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion range it had issued in April.

For the third quarter, Peabody said EBITDA would be between $450 million to $550 million and earnings per share between 80 cents to $1.05.

Shares of Peabody rose 2 percent in pre-market trading to $66.35 per share. As of Tuesday's close, the shares had gained 5.5 percent so far this year.

(Reporting by Steve James and Matt Daily, editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Dave Zimmerman)