Jacobs Engineering rocks

There's nothing like a positive earnings report to get Wall Street excited. Such was the case today with the Pasadena-based engineering and design company, which saw its stock shoot up more than 9 percent because first quarter profits were 11 cents a share higher than what analysts had been expecting ($1.01 compared with 90 cents). Net income for the period jumped 42.4 percent from a year ago, to $61.3 million. Not only that, Jacobs raised its per-share earnings outlook for 2007, to $4-$4.30. Analysts had been expecting $3.98. Jacobs is highly diversified and most of its business comes from repeat customers (that's a good thing). The stock closed today at $87.85, which is still aways from its 52-week high of $93.27 last April.