LED lighting juggernaut Cree Inc., Durham, N.C., got some love for results for the quarter ended Dec. 29, 2013. The company posted revenues of $415 million for the quarter, a 20% year-over-year increase, and net income growth compared with the same quarter a year ago rose by 89.2% from $16.12 million to $30.50 million. The stock market cheered the news in the numbers, bidding up shares by 7.5% to $67.59.
Cree splits out sales from its LED products (components, chips and related materials) from lighting products in its report, which gives a glimpse of how the company is evolving. Both segments grew over the quarter and six-month timeframes, and LED products continue to account for the larger share of total sales, but lighting represents an increasing share of the company’s revenues even while unit prices for its lighting equipment have been falling due to introduction of lower-cost products. Lighting accounted for 42% of revenues in the quarter, up from 35% in the same quarter 2012, while sales of LED products went from 58% of revenues to 52%.
Meanwhile at GE, Fairfield, Conn., six of the seven business lines in the company’s industrial segment posted earnings growth and overall industrial profits were up 12% at $5.5 billion. GE also reported a record $244 billion backlog of equipment and service orders, which cheered analysts looking for signs of reduced reliance on the company’s finance unit, though investors have bid GE’s stock price down by 8% since the beginning of the year.
Considered by many a proxy for the overall economy because of its size and business mix, GE said it expects to show organic growth of 4% to 7% for 2014 as a whole. The company also increased its planned cost reductions in 2014 to more than $1 billion.
