Merge Healthcare said Wednesday its losses shrank as its sales nearly doubled in its second quarter.

The Chicago-based radiology IT vendor said it lost $3 million, or 4 cents a share, down 90 percent from the $31 million, or 39 cents a share, it lost in the second quarter last year. Sales soared to $56 million, up 92 percent from the $29 million in sales from second quarter 2010.

Income adjusted for last year's purchase of Amicas and other factors was $5 million, or 6 cents a share, up from last year's second quarter loss of $4 million, or 5 cents a share.

According to reports, analysts expected revenues of $54.99 million and profit of 2 cents a share.

Over the quarter, Merge said it signed 30 contracts for its meaningful use-certified software and signed 12 new agreements for its image-sharing iConnect platform.

Merge's stocks rose 4.66 percent to hit $5.17 a share on Nasdaq in morning trading Wednesday.