Jefferies Group Shares Soared: What You Need to Know (JEF)

Jefferies Group Shares Soared: 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 investment banker Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF ) are soaring today, up by as much as 26% after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings results.

So what: Fourth-quarter revenue totaled $554 million, which led to a profit of $0.17 per share. It was a miss and a beat compared to consensus estimates, which called for $562.4 million in sales and $0.14 earnings per share.

Now what: Investors are breathing a sigh of relief, as the results dispel recent fears that Jefferies has a large exposure to the European debt crisis, which had been previously triggered by a credit rating downgrade. The market had been drawing some similarities between Jefferies and the MF Global debacle, so any recent news that disproves those fears has been sending shares higher. The company has also declared a dividend of $0.075 per share for the coming quarter.

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

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Fool contributor Evan Niu holds no position in any company mentioned. Click here to see his holdings and a short bio. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. 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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