Fuel Systems Solutions shares jump after 3Q profit

The stock rose $12.09, or 45.3 percent, to close at $38.80. Shares have traded between $9.80 and $61.24 in the past 52 weeks.

Santa Ana, Calif.-based Fuel Systems said Thursday it earned $11.9 million, or 75 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected, on average, earnings of just 26 cents per share.

For 2008, the company raised its revenue expectation to $385 million from $350 million, well above analysts' average forecast of $369.1 million.

"We continue to believe that Fuel Systems is well positioned to benefit from significant expected growth in the global gaseous fuel vehicle and that the company is a leader in its markets," Lazard Capital Markets analyst Graham Mattison said in a note to clients.

Mattison boosted his 2008 earnings expectation to $2.15 per share from $1.40 per share, but kept a "Hold" rating citing the current stock price and macroeconomic headwinds.

"While the longer-term outlook remains solid, we are concerned that that sharp decline in commodity prices and the slowing macroeconomic environment, notably in the global automotive market, may weigh on the company's growth prospects in the near term," he said.