DuPont expects 2012 profit to beat Street

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - Dupont expects to beat Wall Street's earnings expectation next year, with executives stressing that strong agricultural and chemical sales will offset weak sales to electronic and housing customers.

The company, which makes Kevlar bulletproof fabric, genetically modified seeds and pigments for paint, said on Tuesday it expects to earn between $4.20 and $4.40 next year.

Excluding a 17-cent per share expense for pensions, DuPont told analysts and reporters at its annual investor day in its Delaware headquarters that it will earn $4.37 to $4.57 per share in 2012.

That compares with Wall Street's estimate of $4.23 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"Our growth playbook is working," DuPont Chief Executive Ellen Kullman said at the investor day. "We positioned this company to emerge stronger from the recession. DuPont is executing well and delivering strong results."

The company expects 2012 revenue of $40 billion to $42 billion. Analysts expect $41.4 billion.

Shares of Dupont rose 1.5 percent in premarket trading to 44.57.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Wilmington, Delaware; additional reporting by Matt Daily in New York, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

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