Avnet Shares Rise After Strong 2Q

Avnet's shares were trading at $29.45, up $3.34 per share, after the company earned $99.1 million, or 67 cents per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 30, 2006, up from $49.6 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier. The year-ago quarter included restructuring and other charges of $32.4 million. Fiscal 2007 second-quarter sales rose to $3.89 billion from $3.76 billion a year ago.

Financial analysts had projected Avnet's second-quarter earnings at 61 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. Avnet also increased its third-quarter guidance, saying it expects earnings of 67 cents to 71 cents per share on sales of $4.1 billion to $4.3 billion. Analysts forecast the company's third-quarter earnings at 60 cents per share on sales of $4.1 billion.

The Avnet Partner Solutions division, comprised of the company's Hewlet-Packard, IBM and storage/software distribution businesses, reported year-over-year sales growth in the double-digits, according to an Avnet spokeswoman. Sales in storage and industry-standard servers continue to be solid for the business, she said.

Avnet's earnings also propelled the stock of its primary competitor. Shares of Arrow Electronics were trading at $35.82 on Thursday, up $2.48 or 7.4 percent.