Cree posted its 1st quarter earnings yesterday, and while its profits dropped by more than half, it still beat Wall Street’s expectations. From MSN Money Central, here’s a quick breakdown of the stats:

• Net Income: dropped to $5.0 million, or 7 cents per share. A year ago, the company made 15 cents per share.  However, if you factor out amortization expenses and expenses incurred by the company for stock-based compensation, the company would have earned 15 cents per share this quarter as well.
• Revenue: climbed $140.4 million from $113.4 million last year, a gain of 24 percent. Analysts had expected a profit of 11 cents per share based on a revenue of $139.6 million.

Based on the report, shares rose 7 percent yesterday, closing at 18.57 and trading at 19.90 after the bell.

What’s next? Here are the forecasts for Cree’s second quarter, from MSN Money:

For the second quarter, the company forecast earnings of 7 cents to 8 cents per share, or an adjusted profit of 15 cents to 16 cents per share, with revenue of $142 million to $146 million.

Wall Street anticipates a profit of 11 cents per share in the quarter, with sales of $146.5 million.