Lincoln Electric beats Street 1Q forecasts

CLEVELAND (AP) _ Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc. (LECO) on Tuesday reported first-quarter profit of $55.8 million.

The Cleveland-based company said it had net income of 84 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for costs related to mergers and acquisitions, were 88 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 79 cents per share.

The manufacturer of specialized welding products and other equipment posted revenue of $580.9 million in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $568.2 million.

Lincoln Electric shares have risen slightly more than 8 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen 39 percent in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on LECO at https://www.zacks.com/ap/LECO

Keywords: Lincoln Electric Holdings, Earnings Report