Today's Early Winners and Losers

Shares of Photronics (PLAB Quote) rose nearly 10% in late trading Tuesday after the company's fiscal first-quarter earnings easily topped forecasts. The company, a maker of quartz plates used to make chips and flat-panel displays, said its earnings for the quarter ended Jan. 29 jumped to $9.7 million, or 21 cents a share, from $4.5 million, or 13 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales rose to $111.9 million from $101.2 million. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had forecast earnings of 13 cents a share and sales of $107 million.

"Our first-quarter performance proved to be more robust than historical patterns would indicate," said Chief Executive Michael Luttati in a statement. "We experienced broad based demand for both integrated circuit and flat panel display photomask technology and services as our customers were actively releasing new products and design iterations." Shares were up $1.86 to $21.

Blue Coat Systems (BCSI Quote) shares fell nearly 18% after the Web security company reported disappointing third-quarter numbers. The company reported income of $3 million, or 20 cents a share, for the third quarter ended Jan. 31, up from $267,000, or 2 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, earnings were 21 cents a share, 6 cents short of analysts' mean estimate. Blue Coat's revenue rose to $35.5 million from $24.7 million a year earlier. Analysts were looking for revenue of $38.6 million.

For the fourth quarter, Blue Coat forecast earnings, before items, of 8 cents a share, with revenue of $35 million. The outlook fell short of analysts' forecast for earnings of 26 cents a share and revenue of $41 million. Blue Coat shares lost $4.40 to $20.10 in after-hours trading.

Shares of Itron (ITRI Quote) gained after the maker of utility meter equipment beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter earnings expectation. The company said it swung to a fourth-quarter profit of $16.9 million, or 65 cents a share, from a loss of $7 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, Itron's so-called pro forma income rose to $15.3 million, or 59 cents a share, compared with $9 million, or 40 cents a share, from a year ago. Analysts expected earnings of 48 cents a share on this basis. Itron's fourth-quarter revenue rose 22% to $160 million.