ZURICH (Reuters) – Logitech International <LOGN.S> shares led Europe’s gainers on Tuesday as the computer peripherals maker reported a big jump in second-quarter profit and again hiked its guidance amid a work-from-home boom.
Its stock gained more than 18% in early trading, the highest riser on the STOXX 600 index <.STOXX>, to a record for the Swiss-U.S. company.
The maker of keyboards, mice webcams and headsets said it was benefiting from a shift to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It now expects annual sales to increase between 35% and 40% in constant currencies, up from its previous view for a 10% to 13% increase.
For the year to the end of March it expects non-GAAP operating income of between $700 million and $725 million, up from its previous forecast of $410 to $425 million.
Logitech has been profiting from people working from home, which has driven a rise in video calls, and companies refitting their offices to comply with social distancing restrictions.
“The growth trends that drive our business have accelerated as society adjusts to its new reality,” Chief Executive Bracken Darrell said in a statement.
“The organization leaders I speak to envision people increasingly working from multiple locations, a hybrid work culture that is emerging as the norm.”
The company has also plugged in to the rise of so-called esports – where players compete in games like Fortnite and League of Legends – to sell more products.
During the three months to the end of September, Logitech sales rose 75% to $1.26 billion. Net income rose to $266.9 million from $73 million a year earlier.
Logitech had a “brilliant acceleration in growth” during the second quarter, Zuercher Kantonalbank analyst Andreas Mueller said, rating the results as “strongly positive overall”.
(Reporting by Sabahatjahan Contractor in Bengaluru and John Revill in Zurich; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel and Michael Shields)
