Shares of Palm gained 6 percent in late trading Thursday after the company beat Wall Street estimates and raised guidance.

Riding strong Treo smartphone sales, Palm said it earned 19 cents a share in its quarter ended March 3, three cents ahead of estimates. Sales rose 36 percent to $388.5 million, above $374.7 million forecasts. Palm also raised June quarter guidance.

It's not clear how much Palm benefited from Research In Motion's (RIM) long-running patent troubles that were finally settled earlier this month, but as if to anticipate the question, RIM announced five minutes before Palm's results hit the wires that it would release its results April 6. RIM pre-announced disappointing results when it announced the patent settlement with NTP on March 3.

Reprinted from internetnews.com