ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Jabil Circuit Inc. on Wednesday reported a 50% jump in profit for its fiscal second quarter.

For quarter ended Feb. 28, the EMS provider reported profits of $69 million on a 35% spike in revenue, to $2.3 billion.  A Needham analyst forecast growth rates of more than 30% in fiscal 2006, and 20 to 25% as a sustainable level over the next few years. Needham forecast that Jabil's pending acquisition of Celetronix would add about $100 million in revenue in the remainder of 2006.

Deutsche Bank set a more modest forecast, citing a soon-to-expire contract with Philips and expected momentum slowing at Nokia.

Sales of handsets, consumer electronics, computing and peripherals beat forecasts while margins were slightly below analyst expectations.

Inventory turns fell 0.8 times sequentially to 8.6, slightly worse than the 0.6 average decrease Jabil has reported in the February quarter the past three years. Return on invested capital fell 300 basis points to 15.6%. The company generated $6 million in cash from operations.

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