Cray shares soar nearly 22 pct on strong 1Q

[April 28, 2012]  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Cray Inc.'s stock price climbed its highest level in nearly five years Friday after the supercomputer builder reported a big leap in its first-quarter earnings and delivered a promising outlook for the rest of the year.

The shares surged $1.93, or nearly 22 percent, to $10.83 in afternoon trading. Earlier in the session, the session hit $10.88 -- the highest since May 2007.

Investors were delighted with Cray's first-quarter results released late Thursday.

The company, which is based in Seattle, earned $5 million, or 13 cents per share, during the first three months of the year. Cray lost $1.5 million, or 4 cents per share, at the same time last year.

Revenue more than doubled from last year to $112 million.

Management predicted Cray will be "solidly profitable" for the full year with annual revenue of $430 million to $450 million. The midpoint of that projection represents an 86 percent increase from Cray's revenue last year.

"We are off to a fast start to what I believe will be a banner year for the company," Cray CEO Peter Ungaro said Thursday.

Friday's rally marked the second major advance in Cray's shares this week. The stock gained 21 percent Wednesday after Cray announced it is selling a hardware development program and other intellectual property to computer chip maker Intel Corp. for $140 million. Besides raising cash for Cray, the sale will help the company reduce costs because 74 employees will transfer to Intel after the deal closes later this year.

[Associated Press]

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