KEMET Shares Popped: 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: Shares of electronics components maker KEMET (Nasdaq: KEM ) are making the market green with envy today (what do you mean, "KEMET, not Kermit?") by rising as much as 12.5% on fairly heavy trading.

So what: The company, chiefly a manufacturer of capacitors of various kinds, just reported first-quarter sales 19% above the year-ago quarter along with swinging a net loss of $0.74 per share into $0.61 of earnings per share. Both results left Wall Street analysts floored.

Now what: That's KEMET's fourth earnings beat in a row, but the stock has hardly moved in response to these strong business results. Then again, rivals Vishay Intertechnology (NYSE: VSH ) and AVX (NYSE: AVX ) haven't set the market on fire either in recent months, so I suppose it's a sector effect. Since capacitors are made from precious materials like silver, tantalum, and palladium, some of which are increasing in price very quickly nowadays, it's understandable that investors might be skeptical. But KEMET keeps proving that it can make a profit even with higher materials costs, so I think KEMET deserves a second look at these prices.

Interested in more info on KEMET? Add it to your watchlist. Ribbit!

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Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies discussed here. 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 is investors writing for investors.

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