Shares in Durham-based Cree soar in after-hours trading nearly $5 per share to a new 52-week high after the LED and semiconductor manufacturer reported strong earnings on Tuesday.

So Cree Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chuck Swoboda had plenty of good news to discuss.

In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Swoboda says “pretty broad-based growth” led to a financial report that exceeded Street expectations and triggered a 15-percent jump in Cree’s shares to nearly $38 – well above the previous 52-week high of $35.12.

Swoboda also talked about driving more business by explaining more about what LED lighting can do.

Asked by Brian Lee of Goldman Sachs to “provider a bit more color” on Cree’s performance, Swoboda noted, according to a transcript from SeekingAlpha:

“Yes, Brian, actually, if I look at – the answer to both questions isn’t going to be much more specific because it was pretty broad-based growth. So we saw solid gains in our – both our indoor product families whether it be downlights or troffers, both saw solid gains. On the outdoor, we saw nice gains in the – both the area lighting and in the street lighting.

“So I’d say both – all of the segments were growing reasonably well, and if you think about markets, it’s probably easier to almost think about – if you think about those products, that’s a pretty broad set of markets. And even if you look at it by channel, we saw solid growth pretty much across the different channels, whether it be some of the more large direct customers or the traditional agent and distribution channels. It was a fairly solid growth for the lighting product line across the business.”

In a follow-up question, Lee asked about operating expenses, or “OpEx.” That question led Swoboda to talk about his thinking in how to drive more growth – by educating customers about LED lighting capabilities.

Educating Customers

“Yes, so obviously, in the short term, we’ve decided that we want to spend a little bit more money to really – we really want to get customers in the market to understand that you can do things with LED lighting today that frankly, the market doesn’t realize is possible,” Swoboda explained.

“I have examples of meeting customers for the first time and they’re frankly surprised that what our current products can do and they really don’t have a good sense for what’s coming. So I think we want to make that investment now. As far as operating leverage, it’s really all about we drive adoption and we drive the top line and I think we’ll see some leverage.

“With that being said, I want to continue to invest at maybe a little bit more methodical level because I think that whether we’re investing in R&D or we’re investing in the sales and marketing side, that we see an opportunity to generate a pretty good return in terms of making the market bigger and making our business bigger.”