J.M. Smucker Co , best known for its peanut butter and jelly, posted higher-than-expected quarterly results, driven by strong margins at its Folgers coffee business, and raised its full-year profit outlook.

The company's overall gross margin rose to 33.8 percent from 28.9 percent in the year-ago period.

Gross margin at Folgers, the largest producer of retail packaged coffee in the United States, was helped partly by green coffee market conditions and favorable product mix, the company said in a statement.

For the second quarter ended October 31, the company posted a second-quarter net income of $140 million, or $1.18 a share, compared with $51.5 million, or 94 cents a share, a year ago.

Excluding items, the company earned $1.22 a share.

Analysts on average expected $1.04 a share, before items, on revenue of $1.24 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 52 percent to $1.28 billion.

Orrville, Ohio-based Smucker raised its full-year 2010 earnings outlook to a range of $3.95 to $4.05 a share, from its previous range of $3.65 to $3.80 a share.

Smucker's shares closed at $53.48 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Mihir Dalal in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

Coffee