Newport Profit Jumps

Newport(NEWP Quote) rose 16% Thursday after second quarter earnings rose sharply, aided by a favorable product mix.

The company earned $9.2 million, or 22 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $2.9 million, or 6 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts were expecting earnings of 16 cents a share.

Second-quarter revenue rose 14% from a year ago to $112.4 million.

The company expects to earn 18 cents a share to 21 cents a share in the third quarter, on revenue of $110 million to $113 million. For the full year 2006, the company expects the earnings to be near the high end of its earlier forecast of 65 cents a share to 78 cents a share, including stock option expenses. Full year revenue is expected to meet or exceed the high end of its earlier forecast of $420 million to $440 million.

''We are encouraged by our second quarter book-to-bill ratio of 1.1, which we believe positions us well for revenue growth in the future'', the company said.

Second-quarter gross profit rose 20.9% from a year ago to $49.8 million and gross margin increased 252 basis points to 44.3%. Operating income for the quarter rose 54.3% to $11 million and operating margin increased 255 basis points to 9.8%.

New orders received in the second quarter rose 22% from a year ago to $124 million.

The company also said that its board has approved a share repurchase program, under which it can repurchase up to 4.2 million shares of its common stock.

Shares jumped $2.33 Thursday to $17.02.