What a quarter out of Veeco Instruments (VECO)!  LED lighting demand remains on fire with the company smashing analyst estimates by .18/share after the bell today.  The EPS number was more than double sequentially and an exponential jump over the year ago quarter when the company posted a loss of .15/share.  Revenues were equally as impressive, jumping more than 50% sequentially and more than tripling over the year ago quarter.

====> Click Here For Your FREE Veeco Analysis

CEO John Peeler commented: “Veeco has once again delivered tremendous results. … All three of our businesses, LED & Solar, Data Storage and Metrology, continue to execute extremely well, with sequential improvements in revenue and EBITA. Of particular note, our LED & Solar revenues were $186 million, with approximately $175 million in MOCVD. We shipped 81 MOCVD systems, quadrupling shipments since the third quarter of last year and remained on track with our commitments to customers. .. We received $251 million in MOCVD orders, with customer wins in all regions, including the U.S., Europe, Taiwan, Japan and Korea, and experienced accelerating demand from LED companies expanding facilities in China.”

Looking ahead, the CEO sees another strong quarter this quarter for LED in part due to China’s initiative to subsidize the LED industry.  They plan to ship 100 MOCVD tools this quarter and plan to reach production capacity of 120 by the end of the year.  3rd quarter revenue is forecasted at $290 – $315 million and non GAAP EPS is forecasted at $1.23 – $1.45/share.  The company believes it can hit $1 billion in revenue for 2010.

Shares of VECO are up another 5% in after hours trading, tacking on to gains in the regular trading session.