Shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: KLIC) have moved higher on news before the start of trading that the maker of semiconductor assembly equipment more than doubled its fiscal fourth-quarter profit.

Net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 was $30.3 million, or $0.47 per share, an increase of 136.7% compared with a net income of $12.8 million, or $0.19 per share, during the same period in 2006. Six analysts polled by Thomson Financial were projecting earnings of $0.32 per share.

Revenue also came in above Wall Street’s projections, rising 40% to $236.8 million from $161.4 million a year ago, while analysts had forecasted revenues of $223.3 million.

“This quarter, we doubled our wire bonder shipments over the June quarter—extending our wire bonding market leadership with the strongest technology, manufacturing execution and customer relationships in our industry,” said chairman and CEO Scott Kulicke in a statement.

Wire bonders are machines used for the bonding of semiconductor chips.

Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2008, Kulicke and Soffa Industries announced that it forecasts net revenues of about $220 million, above analysts’ consensus of $217 million.

At 3:39 p.m. ET, shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries (KLIC) had advanced $0.69, or 10%, to $7.47. The 52-week high is $12.46, reached on July 19. The 52-week low of $6.47 was touched on Nov. 12.

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