OmniVision Shares Surge After Upbeat Forecast

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of OmniVision Technologies Inc. surged to a new year high Friday after the chip maker posted a smaller quarterly loss than expected and projected a rebound in sales.

"We are impressed by the revenue guidance," Broadpoint AmTech analyst Doug Freedman said in a note, reiterating a "Buy" rating on shares and hiking his price target to $18 from $16.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Betsy Van Hees called the sales projection "spectacular." She kept her "Outperform" rating and also boosted the price target to $20 from $17.

OmniVision, which makes image-sensing chips, expects adjusted earnings of 10 cents to 20 cents per share in the October quarter on sales of $155 million to $170 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 4 cents per share on sales of only $111.8 million.

OmniVision's adjusted loss for the quarter ended in July came to 8 cents per share, while analysts expected a loss of 11 cents per share.

The company's stock jumped $1.62, or 12 percent, to $14.92 in afternoon trading. The stock earlier traded as high as $15.35, eclipsing a previous 52-week high of $13.68 set the day before.