Martin Marietta tops quarterly profit estimates on US construction boom

July 30 (Reuters) - Building materials supplier Martin Marietta Materials reported second-quarter profit above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, helped by a boom in construction of commercial buildings and data centers.

The Raleigh-based company recently struck a $13.5 billion deal to merge with limestone supplier Lhoist North America, as it looks to benefit from growing infrastructure spending by the U.S. government.

Here are some details:

• Rising construction activity, along with higher infrastructure spending by the U.S. government, has aided the results of suppliers such as Martin Marietta, which sells limestone and aggregates used for making concrete.
• The company lifted its annual revenue forecast to $7.2 billion to $7.4 billion, up from an earlier projection of $7 billion to $7.32 billion.
• The midpoint of the new range is above analysts' expectation of $7.1 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
• Martin Marietta posted an adjusted profit of $5 per share in the April-June quarter, up from $4.84 in the previous quarter and above analysts' expectation of $4.75 per share.
• Quarterly revenue, meanwhile, jumped 21% to $1.95 billion, helped by 17% higher shipments of aggregates. Analysts had expected sales of $1.87 billion.
• Overall building material revenue, which forms more than 90% of the total, grew 16.1% from a year earlier.