Coal miner Peabody Energy Corp. profit more than double

Canadian business ; Coal miner Peabody Energy Corp. said Wednesday its second-quarter profit more than doubled, beating Wall Street's expectations as the miner benefited from higher shipments, soaring global prices and tighter coal supplies worldwide.

The St. Louis-based company, one of the world's biggest coal producers, reported net income of $233.4 million, or 86 cents per share, compared with $107.7 million, or 40 cents per share, in the April-through-June period a year ago.

Revenue rose 43 percent to $1.53 billion from $1.07 billion in last year's second quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected, on average, earnings per share of 54 cents and revenue of $1.5 billion.

Shares fell 81 cents to $64.22 in morning trading.

Peabody, whose coal fuels roughly one-tenth of all U.S. electricity generation and more than 2 percent of worldwide electricity, tweaked the lower end of its full-year earnings guidance, saying it expects income from continuing operations between $2.50 and $3 per share. The company said in April it expected per-share profits of $2.20 to $3 for 2008.

Peabody left unchanged its production targets of 220 million to 240 million tons of coal, with expectations of selling 240 million to 260 million tons for the year.

The company sounded bullishness Wednesday, saying global demand for coal used in making steel and electricity continues to outpace supply while inventories in key countries — chiefly China — remain critically low. Coal, the company said, is expected to outrun all other energy forms over the next two decades.

"The structural changes driving demand much higher than supply, across all coal markets, look to be very long-lived," Gregory Boyce, Peabody's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. "We are just beginning to benefit from the repricing of legacy coal supply contracts at higher levels, which could drive significant earnings increases for many years to come."

The company sold 59.8 million tons of coal during the quarter, compared with 57 million tons during the same period last year.

Revenue from the company's U.S. mining operations grew to $939.1 million, up from $751.7 million a year ago. Australian revenue increased to $523.5 million from $249.4 million a year ago.

Peabody said its coal shipments from Australia jumped 15 percent over the previous year, with the companies per-ton revenues on that continent soaring 84 percent. Peabody's average per-ton revenues in the U.S. grew 22 percent on higher pricing in all regions.