Bell Micro Shares Surge

The company posts an 8% increase in first-quarter revenue.

Author:: TSC Staff
Publish date:: Apr 26, 2006 4:07 PM EDT

Bell Microproducts

(BELM)

saw its shares rise after the company posted an 8% increase in first-quarter revenue.

The company, a distributor of semiconductors, computer platforms and peripherals, said revenue reached $867 million, up from $804 million a year ago.

Earnings, excluding the effect of stock-based compensation expenses, totaled $2.9 million, or 10 cents a share. Including items, Bell earned $2.5 million and 8 cents a share, vs. $4.4 million and 15 cents a share a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting a profit of 8 cents and revenue of $844.7 million.

For the second quarter, revenue is expected to be $810 million to $840 million, with earnings of 7 cents to 11 cents a share, excluding estimated compensation costs of about 1.5 cents. The consensus Wall Street targets are 7 cents a share for earnings and $827.7 million for revenue.

Shares of Bell were higher by 96 cents, or 16.9%, to $6.65.