Walmart to install Cree lighting

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Cree triples its profits

Shares of LED lighting company Cree rose as much as 10 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company posted quarterly results that left analysts' expectations in the dust.

"The results were spectacularly better than what we were looking for," Morgan Keegan & Co. analyst Harsh Kumar said.

Cree, which has its headquarters in Durham, also raised its guidance for the current quarter beyond the expectations of Wall Street analysts.

Hiring news expected at Cree

LED maker Cree is hiring, but it's not quite ready to discuss details.

CEO Chuck Swoboda and Gov. Beverly Perdue intend to announce "new green jobs" at a news conference Thursday afternoon at Cree's headquarters in Durham. Cree spokeswoman Michelle Murray and other officials declined to fill in the blanks.

But Swoboda may have foreshadowed the news in August, when the company reported quarterly earnings. Swoboda disclosed then that Cree was increasing capacity at its plants in Durham and China and adding workers.

Cree expands in China

Cree's expansion effort is spanning two continents.

The company - which last month announced it plans to hire hundreds of workers at its Durham manufacturing plant - on Monday said that it is expanding in China to make more LEDs, increasingly used in energy-efficient lights.

"They have very little choice but to keep up with demand," Morgan Keegan & Co. analyst Harsh Kumar said. In recent quarters, Cree has left revenue on the table because of insufficient manufacturing capacity,Kumar said..

LED chip sales give Cree a boost

Cree shares jumped above $30 in after-hours trading Tuesday, the highest level in more than a year, after the Durham company raised its revenue and profit targets for the current quarter.

The company is selling more LED chips used in light fixtures and to illuminate notebook computers and other gadgets. The sales increase suggests that Cree is avoiding the broader slowdown in technology spending. Cree officials are attracting interest from businesses, schools and government agencies interested in LED lights, which are more expensive but longer-lasting and more energy-efficient than traditional lights.

Raleigh and Chapel Hill, for example, are using Cree LEDs in parking decks and street lights.

Cree tax credit worth $39 million

Cree, the Durham maker of energy-efficient lighting, qualified for a $39 million federal tax credit under an Obama administration program for green energy manufacturing.

Cree is the only North Carolina company out of 183 nationwide that received tax credits under the $2.3 billion stimulus program. The White House released the list Friday. Cree will use the money for equipment to make LED lights.

The money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will help Cree pay for a rapid expansion to meet orders from China and elsewhere. The company hired nearly 300people last year and plans to hire a total of 575 by 2012 to ramp up production of LEDs, or light emitting diodes.