Circuit protection products maker Littelfuse Inc. posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, mainly helped by growth in its electronics segment, and forecast 2011 sales above analysts’ expectations.
For the fourth quarter, the company earned $19.6 million, or 88 cents a share, compared with $11.7 million, or 53 cents a share, a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, it earned 82 cents a share.
Net sales rose 11 percent to $142.6 million. Electronics sales rose 13 percent to $89.4 million.
Analysts on average had expected the company to earn 80 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $142.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Littelfuse, which supplies to companies including Motorola Solutions , Alcatel-Lucent and Hewlett-Packard Co , forecast 2011 earnings of $3.75-$4.05 a share, including items, on revenue of $670 million-$690 million.
Shares of the Chicago, Illinois-based company, which have gained 65 percent in value since touching a year-low in July, closed at $50.53 Wednesday on Nasdaq.
