Estee Lauder looking good to investors

Estee Lauder Mad Men Collection(Photo: Richard Pierce Estee Lauder)

Beauty may be only skin deep, but a good-looking financial quarter has Estee Lauder's stock soaring in early morning trading Friday.

Shares of the beauty products giant -- whose familiar brands include Estee Lauder, Clinique, Bobbi Brown -- jumped more than 4% early Friday, up $3.19 to 75.42.

The company said its fiscal third-quarter net income climbed 19%, mostly buoyed by strong growth in emerging markets.

"Sales came in higher than our expectations and we, again, exceeded our earnings per share forecast," said CEO Fabrizio Freda, in a statement. "

Driving the growth: global demand, strength in emerging markets, accelerated growth in some developed markets and growth in the skin care line.

Fabrizio called these "multiple engines" of growth across product categories.

Spending on health, beauty and grooming is on the grown for men and women. Earlier this week, Procter & Gamble announced plans to roll out a pricey new razor for its Gillette brand. There's a clear sense among analysts and manufactures that beauty product spending has bounced back considerably since the recession.

Estee Lauder's adjusted profit and revenue topped analysts' estimates, and the beauty products company lifted its full-year earnings forecast.

For the three months ended March 31, Estee Lauder earned $213.2 million, or 54 cents per share, up from $178.8 million, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier.

Removing a Venezuela-related charge and other items, earnings were 64 cents per share. Analysts, on average, expected earnings of 55 cents per share, according to a FactSet survey.

Revenue for the New York company climbed 11% to $2.55 billion from $2.29 billion, led by increased sales of fragrances and skin care products. The year-ago shift in orders from some retailers gave a boost to results. Revenue increased 12% when stripping out the impact of foreign currency translation.

The latest revenue results topped the $2.49 billion Wall Street anticipated.

Sales improved across all regions, with Asia Pacific sales up 14%. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, sales rose 13%. Sales for the Americas increased 8%.

Contributing: Associated Press.