Why Finisar Corporation Stock Popped Today

Image source: Finisar Corporation.

What happened

Shares of Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR) jumped as much as 18.4% early Friday, then settled to trade up 13.3% as of 3:30 p.m. EDT, after the fiber-optic subsystems and components company released stronger-than-expected fiscal first-quarter 2017 results. The move also extends last month's encouraging trend of rising optical networking stocks.

So what

Quarterly revenue grew 8.7% year over year, to $341.3 million. Based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), net income increased to $23.9 million, or $0.22 per share, compared to GAAP net income of $3.4 million, or $0.03 per share in last year's fiscal Q1. On an adjusted (non-GAAP) basis, Finisar's net income increased 70.5% year over year, to $41.8 million, and climbed 65.2% on a per-share basis, to $0.38.

For perspective, Finisar's guidance called for revenue in the range of $323 million to $343 million, with adjusted earnings per share of $0.27 to $0.33.

Finisar CEO Jerry Rawls explained:

Now what

Finally, for the current quarter, Finisar expects revenue of $355 million to $375 million, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.44 to $0.50. By comparison, analysts' consensus estimates predicted fiscal Q2 revenue of $342.9 million, and adjusted earnings of only $0.32 per share.

In the end, this is a fairly straightforward beat-and-raise scenario for Finisar, and it's no surprise to see shares trading significantly higher today.

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Steve Symington 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.