KUALA LUMPUR: After taking a breather yesterday, latex-glove maker Top Glove Corp Bhd resumed its rise today, gaining 30 sen to RM9.80 in morning trade.

The company reported its first quarter (1Q) earnings yesterday, posting a 90.9% jump in net profit to RM65.2 million in its first quarter ended Nov 30, 2009.

Revenue for the quarter grew 22.3% to RM472.3 million from RM386.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier, with earnings per share rising to 21.94 sen from 11.60 sen. No dividends have yet been declared for the period under review.

While Top Glove's results are a record for the company for both net profit and revenue growth, recent analyst upgrades put the performance within consensus expectations.

OSK Research in a report on Dec 15, before the results were announced, had said: "Top Glove achieved a net profit of RM56.8 million, up 34.8% quarter-on-quarter. This quarter, we estimate that it may surpass the RM60 million mark."

HwangDBSVickers in a report on Dec 16 also said Top Glove's performance were within its expectations with the 1Q results making up 30% of its full-year forecast of RM217 million full year net profit.

Both brokers have 'buy' calls on the counter.