Cree (Nasdaq: ) beat Wall Street expectations with quarterly earnings of 10 cents per share on profits of $12.7 million.
However, Thursday’s announcement of fiscal first-quarter revenues after the markets closed wasn’t all good news for the semiconductor and light emitting diode manufacturer. While revenues did increase to $113.4 million from $103.9 million a year ago, profits dipped to $12.7 million from $13.3 million. Minus one-time expenses, earnings dipped in half to 10 cents from 20 cents per share.
Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Financial had forecast earnings of 8 cents per share with revenue expected at $112.7 million.
The news sent Cree shares up more than 5 percent, or $1.49, to $29.13 in after-hours trading. Earlier in the day, Cree traded up 94 cents to close at $27.64.
“We got off to a good start in Q1, as Cree again delivered financial results that were in line with our previously announced targets,” said Chuck Swoboda, Cree’s chairman and chief executive officer. “The LED business expanded both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, led by our XLamp LED product line, and we made good strides increasing our capacity for these products during the quarter. Overall, we believe our strategy to increase sales by growing our LED component product lines while maintaining the current level of LED chip sales is on track. As we look ahead, we think our business will grow as the LED Lighting Revolution continues to gain momentum.”
Increasing expenses, which were up 35 percent to $35.7 million, cut into Cree’s profits.
Cree did realize a one-time benefit of $10.8 million from its share of ownership in Color Kinetics, which was acquired by Royal Phillips Electronics.
Looking ahead to the quarter ending December 30, Cree forecast revenues to grow to between $115 million and $119 million with profits of 3 to 5 cents a share.
