Forward Industries rallies 55% after Q1 results - UPDATE 2 20.01.2005 23:02 Zurück Headlines
NEW YORK (AFX) -- Shares of Forward Industries Inc. jumped 55 percent
Thursday, as bundling arrangements with cell-phone heavyweights Motorola and
Nokia spurred a sixfold increase in the carrying-case maker's first-quarter
profit.
The stock ended the day up $2.42 to $6.82 as the top percentage gainer on the
Nasdaq. Volume of 4.8 million eclipsed the issue's daily average of 139,600.
Forward Industries posted earnings of $1.4 million, or 21 cents per share, in
the three months ended Dec. 31, up from $192,000, or 3 cents, earned in the
fiscal 2004 first quarter. Thomson First Call doesn't publish a consensus
estimate for the Pompano Beach, Fla.-based company's results.
Quarterly sales surged 98 percent, reaching $8.9 million from $4.5 million. The
company's cell-phone cases saw a 166 percent sales increase due to interest in
its "in-box" cases accompanying launches of new handsets by Motorola and Nokia
.
Also, sales of the company's diabetic cases got a 26 percent boost to $2.4
million in the latest quarter, reflecting "particularly strong demand" from one
of its major customers.
In addition, business execution played a role in the profit surge, management
said.
"Because of our relatively fixed cost structure and robust sales growth, our
operating expenses, as a percentage of sales, declined to 16.3 percent from 28.9
percent in the prior-year period," said Jerome Ball, chairman and CEO of Forward
Industries.
Ball added that the company remains "very optimistic" about its overall
prospects for the year.
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