Physicians Formula Swings to 4Q Profit

The results beat Wall Street predictions, sending Physicians Formula shares up 60 cents, or 7.6 percent, to $8.50 in aftermarket trading. They earlier fell 10 cents to $7.90 in the regular session.

Physicians Formula earned $4.9 million, or 33 cents per share, compared with a loss of $3.7 million, or 29 cents per share, for the same quarter in 2006.

Results from the 2006 quarter included 6 cents per share in one-time charges.

Sales rose 28 percent to $33.9 million from $26.5 million in the year-ago period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 27 cents per share on $31.6 million in revenue.

Physicians Formula credited the sales increase to strong demand for its existing product line, along with the successful sell-in of its new 2008 products.

Selling, general and administrative expenses fell 42 percent to $10.7 million from $18.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2006.

For the full year, Physicians Formula earned $8.7 million, or 60 cents per share, compared with $606,000, or 5 cents per share, for the same quarter in 2006. Revenue rose to $111.5 million from $95.4 million the year before.