Peabody Energy Earnings up on Higher Pricing and Domestic Volumes, Beats Estimates

Peabody Energy Corp's (BTU.N) quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates as the largest U.S. coal producer realized higher pricing in all regions and domestic volumes increased.

Third-quarter profit rose to $283.5 million, or $1.01 per share, from $237.6 million, or 83 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

Excluding items, it earned 87 cents per share. Analysts were expecting 85 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 9 percent to $2.04 billion, beating estimates of $2.02 billion.

Earlier in the day, ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS) unexpectedly pulled out of its joint $5 billion bid with Peabody for Australian miner Macarthur Coal (MCC.AX), just a day after the buyers said they had secured a majority of shares.

While we anticipated a positive joint venture with ArcelorMittal, we have always preferred a larger ownership. We partnered with ArcelorMittal to increase the likelihood of achieving control of Macarthur, which has now occurred, Peabody Chief Executive Gregory Boyce said in a statement on Tuesday.

St Louis-based Peabody's shares closed at $40.94 on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has lost about 36 percent of its value this year, in line with the decline in the Dow Jones coal index .DJUSCL.

(Reporting by Krishna N Das in New York, editing by Dave Zimmerman)