Smart Modular Technologies rises after 2nd-qtr report, 3rd-qtr outlook beat analyst views

Smart Modular Technologies rises after 2Q report

SAN FRANCISCO — Smart Modular Technologies Inc. shares rose Friday after the maker of computer memory products reported fiscal second-quarter results that beat analyst estimates and predicted third-quarter results also above Wall Street expectations.

Smart Modular Technologies shares rose 98 cents, or 14 percent, to close at $8.14. Earlier the stock reached a 52-week high of $8.74.

The company said late Thursday that in the quarter that ended Feb. 26 it earned 25 cents per share, or 23 cents per share on an adjusted basis. Revenue rose 47 percent to $160.1 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who usually exclude one-time items from their estimates, had expected a profit of 14 cents per share on $142.5 million in revenue.

For the current quarter, Smart Modular expects a profit of 15 cents to 19 cents per share, or 18 cents to 22 cents when excluding special items, on $175 million to $185 million in sales.

Analysts are looking for a profit of 8 cents per share on $143.8 million.

In a client note, Wedbush Morgan analyst Betsy Van Hees reiterated her “Outperform” rating for the stock and increased her price target by $2 to $11.

Van Hees said the results “scream” past estimates, and noted they were due to factors like improved demand from enterprise and storage companies, better-than-usual demand for PCs and servers and ongoing improvements in prices for DRAM — or dynamic random access memory — chips.

Van Hees also called the third-quarter guidance “strong.”