Hauppauge Digital Inc. (HAUP) swung to a fiscal third-quarter
profit as the developer and manufacturer of TV tuner products for
personal computers reported higher sales and lower costs.
The stock jumped as much as 27% on the news and was recently up
16% to $2.55. The stock has nearly tripled this year.
Chief Executive Ken Plotkin on Monday said while TV tuner sales
to the personal-computer makers continued to be soft, the company
saw sales growth in the PC retail market in the U.S. and Europe. He
added that while European sales continued to grow, the company's
latest results were hurt by the drop in value of the euro. The
common currency has since rebounded.
Hauppauge's shares saw a steep spike in May when it reported its
WinTV-HVR TV tuner boards for PCs could stream live TV over the
Internet to Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPad, iPhone and iPod touch and any
Apple Macintosh computer that supports a Safari Web browser.
Investors also reacted favorably to an announcement earlier this
month when Hauppauge said its high-definition video recorder is now
supported as a TV video recorder in Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT)
Windows Media Center.
For the quarter ended June 30, Hauppauge reported a profit of
$915,216, or 9 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of
$1.9 million, or 19 cents a share. Net sales increased 4% to $13.6
million.
Gross margin surged to 43.7% from 24.7% as the cost of sales
declined 22%.
-By John Kell, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2480; john.kell@dowjones.com
