Cree Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) shares rose 19.2% to $35.15 after the maker of fixtures that use light-emitting diodes late Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations. Volume for the stock Wednesday was 15.3 million shares, trumping a daily average of 3.7 million.

A news release Tuesday revealed that Cree announced revenue of $243.0 million for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, ended June 26, 2011. This represents an 8% decrease compared to revenue of $264.6 million reported for the fourth fiscal quarter last year and an 11% increase compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2011.

GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of $19.8 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, decreased 63% year-over-year compared to GAAP net income of $52.8 million, or $0.48 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.

Cree CEO Chuck Swoboda was quoted in the same article as saying “Q4 results were in-line with our targets and we are encouraged by the 11% sequential growth in quarterly revenue. Over the last fiscal year, we continued to have success leading the LED lighting revolution and growing our LED lighting business, while at the same time managing through a challenging business cycle for our LED component and LED chip product lines. As we look ahead to Q1, demand has improved from earlier in the calendar year and we are well positioned to continue to lead the LED lighting revolution.”

Based in Durham, North Carolina, Cree claims to be leading the LED lighting revolution, and also boasts it is making energy-wasting traditional lighting technologies obsolete through the use of energy-efficient, environmentally friendly LED lighting.