CARLSBAD -- The stock of Invitrogen Corp., a provider of biotechnological research materials and one of the largest Carlsbad employers, jumped 11 percent since Tuesday as investors regained confidence in the company's direction.

Shares of the company increased more than $6 this week to close at $66.99 Friday in Nasdaq trading. The increase came after the company said Tuesday that it had sold its BioReliance business and reported higher revenues than analysts expected. Invitrogen provides products and services that aid companies that research medicines and biotechnology.

Peter McDonald, a biotech research analyst for American Technology Research in Greenwich, Conn., said the sale and revenues information gave investors a reason to buy Invitrogen stock again.

"It was good for them to pull the plug on it and focus on what they do best," he said. "It was a good end to a bad year."

The company reported a net loss of $100 million for the fourth quarter of 2006 and a loss of $191 million for all of 2006, compared with reported profits of almost $50 million for the fourth quarter of 2005 and $132 million for the entire 2005 year. Overall, the company reported 2006 revenues of $1.3 billion, compared with 2005 revenues of $1.2 billion.

Analysts said the stock price went up partially because the company reported revenues of almost $330 million for the 2006 fourth quarter, when investors expected them to report only $315 million. It got rid of BioReliance, a Rockville, Md., biological safety testing equipment provider, in a $210 million sale to Avista Capital Partners. Invitrogen bought BioReliance in 2004 for $480 million, and it generated revenues of about $100 million annually. Invitrogen sold BioReliance because it doesn't fit the company's focus on biotechnological research.

Amanda Clardy, Invitrogen's vice president of investor relations, said the company was done selling assets for now.

Also, research analyst McDonald said investors like the fact that Invitrogen's business operations in 2006 contributed $235 million in cash to the company's reserves, expanding them to $380 million. Clardy said the company plans to use the money to buy back $150 million in company stock.

Previously, the company used its reserves to fund a wave of expansion that included buying 21 companies since 1999, Clardy said.

The 2006 fourth-quarter earnings were better than expected, but the improvement followed the company's failure to meet expected earnings for the three previous quarters. During that time, the stock went from $76.65 on March 1 to as low as $55.02 on Nov. 30.

Invitrogen was founded in 1987. It operates in more than 70 countries and employs about 5,000 people worldwide, including about 1,000 in Carlsbad.

McDonald said the higher fourth-quarter revenues could foretell good things for Invitrogen in 2007.

"They should get a tail wind from that," he said. "Long term, it should be a good year."

Contact staff writer Patrick Wright at (760) 739-6675 or pwright@nctimes.com.