Cree announced revenue of $96,710,000 for the third quarter of fiscal 2005 which ended on March 27, 2005, representing a 25 percent increase over the Company’s comparable year ago period revenue of $77,223,000.

Net income for the third quarter increased 37 percent to $20,683,000, or $0.27 per share, compared to $15,089,000, or $0.20 per share, as reported for the third quarter of fiscal 2004. Gross margin for the third quarter of fiscal 2005 was 53 percent of revenue and compares to 49 percent in the prior year period and 50 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2005.

During the third quarter of fiscal 2005, net income included approximately $25,000 of net adjustments for changes in estimates to the Company’s sales return provision to better reflect product return history and tax adjustments that did not change reported earnings per share. The adjustments included a $1.2 million after-tax benefit to gross profit related to the change recorded to the Company’s sales return provision which increased third quarter gross margin by two percentage points. The sales return provision benefit was mostly offset by non-operating adjustments, which negatively impacted net income by $1.2 million. The non-operating adjustments were related primarily to tax adjustments associated with the decline in the value of the Company’s marketable securities and offset partly by a gain on the sale of a portion of these securities.

For the nine-month period ended March 27, 2005, Cree reported revenue of $290,181,000, an increase of 34 percent over the $216,497,000 reported for the comparable period in fiscal year 2004. Net income for the nine-month period rose 90 percent to $70,132,000, or $0.91 per share, compared to $36,975,000, or $0.49 per share, in the year ago period.

“The fact that our LED business grew sequentially in what is normally a seasonally down quarter for the industry is a testament to the strength of our product offering,” stated Chuck Swoboda, Cree President and CEO. “As we enter the final quarter of our fiscal year, I believe that we are in a favorable competitive position. Based on current orders and customer forecasts, we are optimistic that our revenue should grow sequentially in the fourth quarter.”

Today the Company also announced that as part of its ongoing stock buyback program, it had repurchased 1.45 million shares in the third quarter at an average price of $24.32.

Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
Your source for investigative ebusiness reporting and breaking news.