Why Freescale Shares Skyrocketed

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Freescale have skyrocketed today by upwards of 12% after the semiconductor specialist posted first-quarter earnings results.

So what: Revenue in the first quarter came in at $981 million, easily besting the $966.1 million that the Street forecast. By the time investors got to the bottom line, the $0.03 per-share adjusted loss looked a lot better than the $0.09 per-share adjusted loss that they were braced for. CEO Gregg Lowe said the company's efforts to improve its capital structure are paying off.

Now what: Freescale continues to pursue new market opportunities, while reallocating research and development investments, which is helping boost profitability. The company also provided guidance for the coming quarter, with sales expected to be in the range of $1 billion to $1.04 billion. Gross margin should expand sequentially by between 0.9% and 1.3%, compared to 40.6% in the just-closed quarter.

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The article Why Freescale Shares Skyrocketed originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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