DURHAM – Shares in Cree soared nearly 7 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday minutes after the LED and semiconductor firm disclosed financials that beat the Street across the board:
- Revenue
- Earnings
- Revenue forecast
Cree did report a loss of $241 million for the quarter, but that came after the company took a $247.5 million charge for its lighting division.
Later in a conference call, Cree executives disclosed plans for a shakeup in the lighting products group.
Revenue came in at $356 million, up $14 million year-over-year and $8 million more than expected by analysts polled by FactSet and as reported by MarketWatch.
Earnings after the one-time charge came in at 4 cents. Analysts expected break-even.
And Cree expects revenue of $390-410 million in the current quarter, which was higher than a consensus expectation of $375 million.
“The third quarter revenues and gross margins were at the top end of our targeted range, and non-GAAP [generally accepted accounting principles] earnings per share exceeded the top end of our range, with each business showing progress,” said Gregg Lowe, Cree’s CEO. “While we still have a lot of work to do and the progress won’t happen in a straight line, Q3 was a good first step and we are committed to executing our new strategic direction going forward.”
Cree shares had closed down 2.5 percent at $39.36 before the earnings news.
Full details of the earnings report are available online.
