Advent Software Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know (ADVS)

Advent Software Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know

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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: Advent Software (Nasdaq: ADVS ) dropped 14% in intraday trading today after analysts expressed concerns about bookings and contract sizes.

So what: Non-GAAP EPS of $0.21 beat the consensus estimate of $0.19 and grew 50% from the year-ago quarter. Guidance for the current quarter calls for revenue growth of about 10%, compared to 13% to 14% in the prior three quarters.

Now what: Revenue guidance for 2011 was increased from between $307 million and $314 million to between $310 million and $317 million (growth of 10% to 11%), with the increase helped by an acquisition during the quarter. Many of the questions on the earnings call centered on bookings, the sales pipeline, and smaller average contract values. With a P/E ratio of 36 times non-GAAP earnings, the stock is priced for perfection the company isn't delivering.

Interested in more info on Advent? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

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Fool contributor Cindy Johnson does not own shares of any company named above. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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