Sunrise Senior Living Inc., which operates 415 communities for the elderly in North America and Europe, said Tuesday its fourth-quarter profit rose more than threefold, aided by recent acquisitions, higher occupancy rates and a gain from an asset sale.

The company also backed its financial forecast for the current year and projected earnings growth between 15 to 20 percent in 2007.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2005, Sunrise reported net income of $50.3 million, or $1.01 per share, compared with $12.7 million, or 28 cents per share. Revenue rose to $554.7 million from $379.1 million in the prior-year period.

Wall Street had forecast a profit of 30 cents per share, the average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, on projected sales of $462 million.

Sunrise forecast earnings between 28 cents to 34 cents per share for the first quarter, and from $1.16 to $1.20 per share for all of 2006.

Source: AP