Shares of converged communications solutions provider Interphase Corp. (Nasdaq: INPH) soared as much as 98 percent from Thursday’s closing price in morning trading on Friday after the company announced a 24 percent increase in fourth quarter revenue and a swing to  profitability in Q4.  Shares hit a new 52-week high of $3.96 on Friday morning, up from Thursday’s closing price of $2.00

“Both revenue growth and the restructuring efforts we undertook in the third quarter contributed to our return to profitability in the fourth quarter,” said Interphase’s President and CEO, Gregory B. Kalush in a statement. “Although we are pleased with these results, we remain focused on our multi-tiered strategy to diversify our Company and enter new market segments that we believe can generate significant growth and fortify the future.”

The Plano-based company reported fourth quarter revenue of $5.8 million, up 24 percent from revenue of $4.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2009. Revenues in the quarter were primarily driven by a  28 percent increase in Interphase’s broadband telecom revenues, which increased to $5.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to $3.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, and a 242 percent increase in  enterprise revenues, which rose  to $552,000 from $161,000 on a year ago.  Gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2010 was 55 percent compared to 37 percent for the fourth quarter of 2009. The increase in gross margin was primarily due to a shift in product mix toward higher margin products, increased utilization of Interphase’s manufacturing facility and reduction in obsolete inventory charges.

Net income in the fourth quarter was $447,000, or 6 cents per fully diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to a net loss of $4.0 million, or or 57 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2009.

For the full year, Interphase’s revenues decreased 40 percent to $18.2 million, compared to $25.6 million for 2009. Gross margin percentage increased to 50 percent for the year ended December 31, 2010, compared to 48 percent for the year ended December 31, 2009. Net loss for 2010 was $8.4 million, or $1.23 per share compared to a net loss of $5.6 million, or 81 cents per share for 2009.

Interphase delivers solutions for LTE and WiMAX, interworking gateways, packet processing, network connectivity, and security for key applications for the communications, aerospace-defense, and enterprise markets.

Shares of Interphase Corp. are up 172 percent over the past three months.