Johnson Controls reports record sales

Johnson Controls Inc.'s stock price rose nearly 5% to $102.35 on Friday, after the company reported record sales and raised its financial forecast for the year.

While announcing its earnings for the three months ending March 31, the maker of car seats and batteries as well equipment to manage buildings, said it expects to post earnings per share of as much as $6.30, up from $6 on revenue of $34.5 billion for the fiscal year ending in September.

Between January and March, Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls reported that net income increased 38% to $228 million, or $1.31 per share, on record sales of $8.5 billion, a 4% increase. In the same period last year, JCI posted earnings per share of 83 cents.

Sales in the Plymouth-based auto division, which makes up more than half of JCI's business, dropped 5%, to $4.5 billion.

The company cited an 8% decline in North American production volumes during the quarter, including for a key JCI vehicle, the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Sales in the company's building management segment increased 19%, or $473 million, compared with last year's fiscal second quarter, to almost $3 billion.