Cree, its stock already red hot at a new 52-week high, beat the Street on Tuesday,

LED lighting company Cree (NASDAQ: CREE) reported record revenue amid strong demand for its products, including its new consumer-focused $10 LED light bulb that was unveiled last month.

Revenue for the fiscal third quarter was $348.9 million, a 23 percent increase compared to the quarter last year. Heading into the quarter, Cree had initially forecast revenue in the range of $325 million to $350 million. During a conference call to discuss financial results, CFO Mike McDevitt said the range was later revised to $335 million to $350 million. By nearly reaching the top of the revised range, Cree beat the average analyst estimate of $342.7 million.

The Durham company’s net income for the fiscal third quarter was $22.2 million or 19 cents per diluted share.

Cree shares have rallied in recent weeks, hitting a new 52-week high of $58 Tuesday before the earnings announcement. Shares closed the day at $57.69.

The new LED light bulb is being sold to consumers through Home Depot stores. But it’s hard to tell how much that new bulb contributed to the top line because Cree does not break out figures for individual products. And the new bulb, unveiled in early March, has not yet been available for a full quarter. Cree’s fiscal third quarter ended March 31.

Even so, Cree is making a high profile push for the product. The company recently launched a media blitz including television ads for the new bulbs. Although Cree won’t break out sales figures for the bulb, CEO Chuck Swoboda says that bulb sales so far are doing better than the company had expected. But Swoboda added that the advertising campaign is about more than just promoting bulb sales.

“It’s a relatively small piece of the total revenue of the company, and even in the lighting segment,” he said. “But it gives us a much bigger strategic impact in what it can do to raise awareness for LED lighting generally, but more importantly, for Cree and the Cree brand.”

One analyst noted that although Cree reported higher revenue, its gross margin was down. He asked whether lower margins was because the new bulbs are a lower margin business.

Swoboda said that the lower margins were caused by the startup costs for the new bulbs. As Cree increases revenue across its product portfolio, the company’s financials will reflect progress on all margins. Swoboda defended the sale of the new bulb at the $10 price point as necessary to move consumers toward adopting the new lighting technology.

“As long as people were promoting LED bulbs for $20 to $30 this category wasn’t going to move,” he said. “ You can already see the momentum shifting. At the end of the day, if what this means is, the traditional lighting companies stop that old technology and get more serious about LEDs, I think it’s good for the industry, I think it’s good for Cree.”

Swoboda said that Cree has not looked for opportunities to sell the light bulb in other global markets; North America is the target market for now.

[CREE ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of Cree stories as reported in WRAL Tech Wire.]