Following announcing after Tuesday's closing bell a spike in both sales and profits during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2018 ended January 31, 2018, RF Industries, Ltd. (NASDAQ:RFIL) is one of the top performing NASDAQ companies in Wednesday trading.
The San Diego-based company designs and manufactures an array of products, including RF connectors, coax and fiber optic cables and data center equipment for a diverse group of customers.
During the latest quarter, net sales surged 56% over the year prior quarter to $10.3 million (vs. $6.6 million). Sales were also up on a quarter-over-quarter basis, exceeding the $8.9 million generated during Q4 fiscal 2017.
President and CEO Robert Dawson noted improved sales across all divisions during the quarter, including a boom in the custom cabling segment to $7.7 million from $4.1 million a year earlier. Backlog also grew to $20.2 milloin from only $4.0 million at the end of fiscal 2017 (Oct. 31, 2017).
Controlling spending helped boost gross profit to 30% of sales from 28% in the year-earlier quarter.
Net profit during the first quarter was $454,000, or five cents per share, reversing course from a net loss of $194,000, or three cents per share, during Q1 fiscal 2017. The Q1 profit was also more than the roughly $400,000 generated for all of fiscal 2017.
The company has no outstanding debt and ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $5.9 million.
The board approved a dividend of two cents per share, marking the 31st-straight quarterly dividend for RF Industries.
Shares of RFIL shot ahead at Wednesday's opening bell to $5.50, the highest level for the stock since April 2014. Trading has cooled somewhat about two hours into the session, with shares holding a gain of 42% at $4.90 after closing Tuesday at $3.45.
