Jabil Circuit Swings to Q4 Profit

Contract electronics manufacturer Jabil Circuit Inc. reported a fiscal Q4 profit Thursday, reversing a year-ago loss, on growing revenues and a strong rise in operating margins. The company posted net profit for the quarter of $11.7 million ($0.06/share) versus a net loss of $45.6 million (-$0.22) last year. Excluding items, Jabil's Q4 EPS were $0.29 per share, down from last year's $0.36 but just ahead of analyst expectations of $0.28. Revenue was $3.13 billion, up 6% from $2.95 billion and ahead of a consensus forecast of $3.01 billion. Jabil is projecting adjusted EPS for fiscal Q1 of $0.33-0.37 on revenue of $3.3 billion, in line with Street expectations. For full-year 2007, Jabil earned $73.2 million ($0.35/share), down from $164.5 million ($0.77) in 2006. Revenue was up 20% to $12.29 billion from $10.27 billion. "Our sequential and year-over-year results for the quarter point to a strengthening business," said President and CEO Timothy L. Main (see full earnings call summary).

Sources: Reuters, Thomson Financial, AP, MarketWatch
Commentary: Jabil Circuit Looks Like Strong Buyout Candidate, But I'm Not Buying • Contract Electronics Manufacturing: Tough Place to Make Money
Stocks/ETFs to watch: JBL. Competitors: FLEX, SANM. ETFs: RYT

Seeking Alpha's news briefs are combined into a pre-market summary called Wall Street Breakfast. Get Wall Street Breakfast by email -- it's free and takes only seconds to sign up.