Virco Manufacturing Corp. received a big boost in its stock price after reporting its fiscal second-quarter earnings this month.

The Torrance-based manufacturer of school desks, chairs, tables and storage products saw its share price increase by nearly 9.5% between it closing price of $4.64 on Sept. 8 and the close of $5.08 on Sept. 11, the day the company reported its financials. It then went up another 8% from the close of $5.20 on Sept. 13 to $5.62 on the following day. 

On Sept. 11, the company had its highest trading volume of the last 52-week period, with just more than 310,000 shares traded.

The share price closed at $5.73 on Sept. 21.

The company reported on Sept. 11 net income of $15.5 million (95 cents a share) for the quarter ending July 31, compared with net income of $9.7 million (60 cents) in the same period of the previous year. Revenue grew 30% from the second quarter of the prior year to $107.3 million.

Virco Chief Executive Robert Virtue said that the company performed well during the back-to-school season.

“We had a record backlog of deliveries to make, and we made them,” Virtue said in a statement. “This ability to execute is directly tied to our domestic U.S. factories and logistics teams.”

Virco has 550,000 square feet of office, manufacturing and shipping facilities in Torrance, which processes orders for the western and midwestern states and the Pacific Rim, and 1.75 million square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space in Conway, Arkansas, which handles orders for the remainder of the country east of the Rocky Mountains plus the Caribbean. 

But the company’s summer delivery window has been narrowed as schools have extended their instruction calendar to make up for pandemic-related learning loss, Virtue added. 

“We have the physical footprint and the operating know-how to make and deliver millions of pounds of furniture in what is now a six- to eight-week delivery season,” Virtue said. “This environment has been increasingly challenging for import-based competitors. We are seeing a meaningful gain in new customers in this new competitive landscape.”

Doug Virtue, the president of Virco and the third generation to be involved with the family-run venture, said the company considered itself fortunate to have come out of the pandemic stronger than when it went in.

“We are uniquely positioned to help schools as they modify their calendars and curricula to address the learning challenges faced by today’s students,” Virtue said in a statement, adding that Virco’s vertical model has proven highly adaptable to these accelerations. 

“We have good control over inventories, delivery performance, and the entire order-to-cash cycle,” Virtue continued. “Ultimately, this allows us to better serve educators and students as they seek creative solutions to the challenges of the last few years.”

Investor website Zacks.com was high on Virco stock in a posting from Sept. 13.

Zacks pointed out that a solid price increase over a period of 12 weeks reflects investors’ continued willingness to pay more for the potential upside in a stock. 

“Virco is quite a good fit in this regard, gaining 32.8% over this period,” Zacks said. 

Another factor that confirms the company’s fundamental strength is its Average Broker Recommendation of a strong buy. This indicates that the brokerage community is highly optimistic about the stock’s near-term price performance, the website added.

“So, the price trend in Virco may not reverse anytime soon,” Zacks said.