Amid a weak U.S. subprime mortgage market, Lehman Brothers said Tuesday its second quarter profit rose by 27 percent to beat analyst forecasts.

The Wall Street giant saw net-income for its previous quarter rise 27 percent to $1.27 billion, or $2.21 a share, from $1 billion, or $1.69 a share in the year-ago period. Lehman said net revenue rose to $5.51 billion from $4.41 billion a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profit of $1.88 a share on revenue of $4.97 billion.

The nation's fourth largest investment bank said profit grew on strong activity in equities trading, mergers and overseas operations.

With non-U.S. net revenue representing nearly half of our total net revenue for the quarter, our global platform is stronger and more balanced than ever, said Chief Executive Richard S. Fuld Jr., in a statement.

Lehman's investment-banking business posted a 55 percent revenue increase from the previous year to $1.2 billion. It cited higher debt-origination revenue, which rose 87 percent to $540 million.

Equity-origination was also up, climbing 60 percent to $333 million, while advisory revenue increased to $277 million, rising 14 percent.

The results helped offset losses in its fixed-income capital markets business, which saw net revenue in the second quarter fall 14 percent from a year earlier to $1.9 billion.

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