Life Time Fitness 2Q profit rises, beats Street

Gym operator Life Time Fitness Inc. said Thursday that its second-quarter profit climbed 14 percent, helped by an increase in revenue from membership due and from in-center sales.

Shares of the company, which beat analyst expectations, rose $3.36, or 8.4 percent, to $43.55 in afternoon trading.

For the quarter that ended June 30, Life Time Fitness earned $24.9 million, or 61 cents per share, compared with $21.9 million, or 53 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 63 cents per share.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected a profit of 59 cents per share, but it was not clear if the FactSet estimate was adjusted or not.

Revenue rose 11 percent to $256.7 million, higher than the $252.7 million analysts were hoping for. Membership dues climbed 9 percent to $167 million, while in-center revenue rose 17 percent to $80.3 million.

The company said memberships rose 5.1 percent to 664,307 members at the end of June, compared with 631,862 a year before. Attrition for the quarter was 8.1 percent, compared with 8.4 percent a year earlier.

In the second quarter, Life Time opened gyms in Colorado and Nevada. The company currently operates 92 gyms in 21 states.

For the year that ends Dec. 31, the company expects a profit of $2.25 to $2.30 per share on $985 million to $1.0 billion in revenue. This is higher than the $2.21 to $2.29 per share on $980 to $995 million it had previously predicted. Excluding compensation costs, the company put its annual income at $2.31 to $2.36 per share.

Analysts expect $2.31 per share, or $2.32 excluding items, on $995.8 million in revenue.