ST. PETERSBURG, FL-- Jabil Circuit's fiscal first quarter profit climbed 38% on strong demand for consumer electronics and telecom gear. For November quarter, Jabil earned $76.9 million, up from $55.9 million a year ago.

Revenue rose 31% percent to $2.4 billion from $1.83 billion last year.

Excluding certain non-operating items, Jabil said it would have earned $92.8 million for the quarter.

Jabil guided for second-quarter revenue of $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion. For fiscal 2006, Jabil expects sales of $9.3 billion.  The Wall Street consensus is sales of $9.04 billion.

However, it is unclear how long Jabil can sustain its growth, analysts said, pointing to the end of a major contract with Philips and expected slowing at Nokia, for whom Jabil makes phones.

Consumer electronics, primarily handsets and home electronics, was up 46% sequentially, beating company guidance of 30%. Telecom was up 10% sequentially, after the company forecast flat growth.

The cash conversion cycle was cut three days sequentially, to 15 days, and is down 13 days year-on-year. Inventory turns improved to 9.4, up from 9.1 sequentially. Return on invested capital rose to four points sequentially to 21%. During the quarter, Jabil generated cash from operations of $144 million.