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: Shares of pawn store operator and payday lender EZCORP (Nasdaq: EZPW) are on the lam today, falling as much as 11.8% on very heavy volume before stabilizing at about a 9% loss.

So what: The company just reported third-quarter results and came up short of Wall Street's estimates. That's in contrast to rivals First Cash Financial Services (Nasdaq: FCFS) and Cash America International (NYSE: CSH), both of whom exceeded expectations when reporting earnings this week.

Now what: EZCORP shares have still gained 70% over the last year and 14% in the past three months as investors see Americans flocking to alternative financing in this troubled economy. The stock may have gotten ahead of the business for a while, in which case this drop just realigned it with economic reality. Management remains steadfast in its full-year estimates, and this earnings miss was small -- there's really nothing terribly wrong with EZCORP today.

Interested in more info on EZCORP? Add it to your watchlist.