Polaris Industries Inc. on Tuesday raised its forecast for full-year net income and sales as the all-terrain vehicle maker posted a 51 percent jump in third-quarter earnings.

The latest results beat Wall Street expectations, and the company's shares rose 2.3 percent or $1.58 to reach $69.52 in premarket trading.

For the third quarter, the company earned $47.2 million, or $1.37 per share, compared with $31.2 million, or 94 cents per share, a year earlier.

Sales rose 33 percent to $580.1 million from $436.2 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected net income of $1.14 per share on revenue of $522.1 million.

The company credited its results and improved outlook to better margins and new product introductions, despite continued weakness in the economy and consumer demand.

Polaris now expects full year earnings between $4.17 and $4.20, which represents an increase of 37 to 38 percent when compared to earnings of $3.05 per share last year.

The company sees sales growth of between 24 and 25 percent over 2009 sales of $1.57 billion, indicating a prediction of $1.95 billion to $1.96 billion. In July, it forecast a profit of $3.80 to $3.90 per share for the year and sales growth of 17 percent to 20 percent, to a range of $1.83 billion to $1.88 billion.

Analysts currently expect 2010 earnings of $3.87 per share on revenue of $1.84 billion.

For the fourth-quarter, the company expects earnings of $1.45 to $1.48 per share, up 11 to 13 percent from the same period a year ago. Polaris forecasts sales will rise 22 to 24 percent over the fourth-quarter.

The company also announced Tuesday that its defense unit has been selected for a contract to provide ultra-light utility vehicles to the Army National Guard.