Palomar Medical (NSDQ:PMTI) gained on Wall Street today after a swing to 4th-quarter profits bested Wall Street’s earnings expectations by 1 thin dime.

The Burlington, Mass.-based cosmetic device company reported profits of $$2.3 million, or 12¢ per share, on sales of $17.5 million for the 3 months ended Dec. 31, 2012, compared with losses of $1.9 million or 10¢ per share during Q4 2011. The top-line gain amounted to 30.6%. Analysts were expecting losses per share of 1¢.

For the full year, Palomar logged losses of $6.2 million, or 33¢ per share, on sales of $55.4 million, compared with profits of $7.4 million, or 39¢ per share, on sales of $44.4 million during 2011. Analysts on The Street were looking for a slight gain in EPS of 0.33¢.

"This quarter is the first quarter that we reported profit since the recession began, excluding the third quarter of 2011 which included the $31 million patent litigation settlement with Candela and Syneron," CEO Joseph Caruso said in prepared remarks. "The efforts that we have made over the past year to transition our consumer business and focus on our core professional market have resulted in bottom-line results and top-line revenue growth.

"We believe we have made the right investments that position us to expand the professional aesthetic market with new and unique products.  These investments should provide for future growth and profitability and continued success," Caruso added.

PMTI shares closed up 4.6% today at $10.23 per share.