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 engineering and scientific consulting firm Exponent (Nasdaq: EXPO) dipped by 11% earlier in the trading session, but have gained nearly all of it back following its fourth-quarter earnings report.

So what: Exponent's fourth-quarter results were actually pretty solid -- revenue grew by 11% and net income jumped 25%. Both of these figures easily flew past Wall Street's estimates. The reason for the drop this morning relates to its cautious statements regarding growth in 2012. The larger projects Exponent benefited from in 2011 simply won't be there in 2012 and, as such, Exponent is expecting EBITDA to decline slightly.

Now what: Wall Street had been factoring in 7% sales growth in 2012, so Exponent is probably going to come in short of those figures. Despite a balance sheet ripe with cash and no debt, Exponent doesn't pay its shareholders any dividend. That, along with the fact that Exponent isn't all that cheap -- 3.8 times book and 20 times forward earnings with a 2012 growth rate in the midsingle digits -- makes this an easy stock to pass on.

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