President Obama Tours LED Lighting Manufacturing Facility

Earlier today, the President of the United States Barack Obama toured Cree, Inc, a manufacturer of energy efficient LED lighting, in Durham, North Carolina, with Matthew Rose, Chairman and CEO, BNSF Railway and Chuck Swoboda, CEO of Cree, Inc, prior to speaking about the economy.

The visit to Cree, which according to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, is “doing some very good work in the clean energy and efficiency field.”  “The President is obviously there for a meeting of his Jobs and Competitiveness Council and he looks forward to hearing from them their ideas for spurring further job creation in the United States,” Mr. Carney said.

Cree Reports Financial Results for the Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2011  Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a market leader in LED lighting, announced  (April 19, 2011) revenue of $219.2 million for its third quarter of fiscal 2011, ended March 27, 2011. This represents a 6% decrease compared to revenue of $234.1 million reported for the third fiscal quarter last year and a 15% decrease compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2011. GAAP net income for the third quarter of $18.9 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, decreased 58% year-over-year compared to GAAP net income of $44.6 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2010. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2011 of $30.1 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, decreased 41% year-over-year compared to non-GAAP net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 of $51.3 million, or $0.47 per diluted share.

"Q3 results were in-line with our revised lower targets for the quarter," stated Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO. "The results reflect both our continued success in LED lighting and the challenges of managing the LED chip and components business through a business cycle with short lead-times and low order visibility. We continue to be a leader in LED lighting and remain confident we are on the right track as we look forward to further disrupting the market and leading the LED lighting revolution in the years ahead."