What happened
Shares of Veeco Instruments (VECO -2.35%), a designer and manufacturer of small electronic materials and parts, jumped as much as 21.5% on Tuesday. The stock is up 18.6% at the time of this writing.
The stock's rise on Tuesday follows the company's fourth-quarter earnings release, which included better-than-expected non-GAAP earnings per share.
The company said the strong quarter was driven primarily by shipments of its metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and Laser Anneal systems.
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So what
Fourth-quarter revenue was $143 million, up 53% from the year-ago quarter. Full-year revenue was $485 million, up from $333 million in the year-ago quarter.
Veeco lost $5.5 million, or $0.12, during its fourth quarter on a GAAP basis. But non-GAAP net income was $9.1 million, or $0.19 per share. This compares to non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.09 in the year-ago quarter.
On average, analysts were expecting revenue of about $144 million and non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.09.
Now what
For 2018, management expects more growth across all of its target markets.
Supporting its expectation for growth in 2018, Veeco ended 2017 with "strong bookings and historically high backlog," said Veeco CEO John Peeler.
For its first quarter of 2018, management said it expects revenue to be between $140 million and $165 million, and non-GAAP earnings per share to be between a loss of $0.04 and a profit of $0.14.
