Jabil Circuits (JBL)

[OldAIMGuy]

By TheStreet.Com Staff
12/20/2004 5:05 PM EST

Jabil Circuit (JBL:NYSE - commentary - research) said first-quarter earnings rose 32% from a year ago on a 21% jump in sales, beating estimates, but the company will struggle to do the same in the current period.

Jabil earned $55.9 million, or 27 cents a share, in the three months ended Nov. 30, compared with earnings of $42.5 million, or 20 cents a share, last year. Core earnings jumped 26% from a year ago to $65 million, or 32 cents a share, a penny better than the Thomson First Call earnings consensus.

Revenue rose 21% from a year ago to $1.83 billion, compared with estimates of $1.79 billion. "While the end markets and the economy are just beginning to show signs of improvement, Jabil clearly has the strong trend for electronics companies to outsource in its favor," the company said.

For the second quarter, Jabil expects to earn a core 26 cents to 28 cents a share on revenue of $1.65 billion to $1.75 billion. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 27 cents a share on revenue of $1.71 billion.

Jabil fell 47 cents, or 1.8%, to $25.30 after hours.