Aaron Inc. Shares Jump On Earnings, Outlook

SAN FRANCISCO -- Shares of Aaron Inc. rose Wednesday after the furniture and appliance renter beat Wall Street estimates for its fourth-quarter results and forecast. Shares rose 15% to $23.42 in recent activity. Aaron reported a fourth-quarter profit of 38 cents a share on revenue of $484.4 million, compared with a consensus estimate of 34 cents a share on revenue of $470.3 million from analysts polled by FactSet Research. The company forecast a 2011 profit of $1.61 to $1.77 a share on revenue of about $2 billion. Analysts had forecast earnings of $1.40 a share on revenue of $1.86