Shares of Anaheim’s Multi-Fineline Electronix Inc., a maker of flexible printed circuit boards for cell phones and other devices, jumped Monday after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
The stock rose as much as 30% in afternoon trading. It closed up 20% on a recent market value of about $470 million.
Multi-Fineline, also called M-Flex, had sales of $167 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, up from $110 million a year earlier and beating analysts’ expected $119 million in sales.
The company posted profits of about $3 million, up from $2 million in the year-ago quarter. Analysts were expecting M-Flex to show a loss of about $737,000.
For the 12 months ended Sept. 30, M-Flex reported sales of $508 million, up from $504 million a year earlier.
It counted yearly profits of $3 million, down from $40 million a year ago.
The company said profits took a hit when the company ate an $8 million charge associated with the costs of ending a deal with Singapore’s MFS Technology Ltd.
M-Flex was fighting its Singaporean parent, WBL Corp., over an unwanted combination with MFS, also a circuit board maker. The deal was dashed by WBL shareholders back in July.
M-Flex’s results represent a big turnaround for the company.
Its stock has been hammered by investors in recent months after the company said sales to its biggest customer, cell phone maker Motorola Inc., had dropped off significantly.
Sales to Motorola fell 33% this year, the company said.
M-Flex has been able to offset its Motorola losses by boosting sales to a handful of other customers, including Finland’s Nokia Corp. and others that M-Flex didn’t name.
Sales to other customers grew by $145 million during the company’s fiscal year, which also ended September 30.
“Two other customers,one a longtime customer and the other a more recent customer,experienced rapid growth during the year as well,” according to Chief Executive Phil Harding.
The company said it expects a “moderate increase” in sales in the current quarter, it said.
