Blount International Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Blount International (NYSE: BLT  ) bumped up its stock price 10% in early Wednesday trading. The shares gave back some of those gains as initial enthusiasm waned, however, and currently sit about 7% above yesterday's closing price.

So what: The reason for the bounce is -- you guessed it -- earnings. Blount released its Q4 report this morning, beating Wall Street's protections for both sales and earnings. Adding to the good news, management forecast fiscal 2011 sales of approximately $725 million, or nearly 5% more than previously expected.

Now what: Total sales of Blount's chainsaw parts, lawnmower blades, and related garden and forestry equipment rose 8.4% for the quarter, but the real growth driver was abroad, where Blount's sales surged nearly 12%. (In contrast, sales gains in the U.S. were described as "up slightly.") Since Blount's success is largely an international phenomenon, it's not likely to be shared by more U.S.-centric retailers of similar products, such as Home Depot and Lowe's.

As for Blount itself, even today's now-sagging rally looks overdone. Lost in all the attention paid to its GAAP earnings is the fact that Blount's free cash flow dropped significantly in 2010. With just $36 million in FCF produced last year, against an $800 million market cap ... let's just say there's less meat in this BLT than investors seem to think.

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