StockerYale reports earnings hike

Wall Street reacted warmly to StockerYale’s latest earnings report, even though it the Salem-based optics firm is still losing money.

The firm’s stock price jumped by as much as a quarter Friday morning to a 52-week high of $1.81 a share, following an earnings release Thursday that reported the company lost $1.6 million, or 5 cents a share, resulting in a $5.1 million net loss in the year, or 17 cents a share.

The losses are considerably smaller less than in the previous year’s and revenue continues to grow.

The company reported net revenue of $5.9 million last quarter, compared to $4.1 million the previous year, much of it due to $1.7 million of revenue from Photonic Products, a British firm which StockerYale acquired October. For the year, the company posted revenue of $19.4 million, compared to $16.2 million for 2005 — all but a half million of that increase could be attributed to Photonic.

Costs associated with the merger however cut into the company’s profits, resulting in a loss despite the revenue gain.

In 2007, the company said, it expects to earn $30 million to $34 million. In 2006, the company lost $900,000. – BOB SANDERS