Investors prepared for Sun Hydraulics' pending 5 p.m. earnings release yesterday by buying up shares of company stock during regular trading hours, boosting the price by 5.1%.
And when the data was finally released, yet another boost — up 6.4% in after hours trading.
As the Business Review suggested might be the case in a recent Coffee Talk article, Sun Hydraulics had an outstanding first quarter to begin 2010. Perhaps the best indicators of that fact were the 25% increase in net sales (up to $31.6 million from $25.2 million), along with the resulting 450% increase in net income ($3.3 million, after posting a $600,000 gain last year).
Growth in earnings per share was even stronger, up from $0.03 last year to $0.20 this year, a 567% increase.
Indeed, comments from Sun CEO Allen Carlson were loaded with confidence.
"Due to higher than anticipated activity in March, we exceeded our first quarter sales and earnings estimates," he explained in a release. “The consistent level of expedited orders indicates to us that inventory throughout the pipeline is exhausted and OEMs are building on an as-needed basis."
The company's U.S. workforce is now “fully employed,” Carlson explained, and the company is “well prepared for the rapid increase in demand.”
The company's outlook for the second quarter is just as bright. It expects to post an 81% increase in year-over-year revenue, and anticipated earnings per share are between $0.34 and $0.36 — a dramatic swing, considering the company lost $0.03 per share in last year's second quarter.