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 life-sciences tools specialist Bruker (BRKR -2.54%) climbed 11% today after its quarterly results and outlook easily topped Wall Street expectations.
So what: The stock has slumped in recent months on concerns over the slowing global economy, but a wide third-quarter beat -- adjusted EPS of $0.28 on revenue of $447.8 million, versus the consensus of $0.15 and $421 million -- coupled with upbeat full-year guidance naturally eases some of those worries. While a weaker euro and soft demand in Europe continue to pressure sales, better-than-expected domestic growth seems to be offsetting those headwinds particularly well.
Now what: Management now sees full-year 2012 adjusted EPS of $0.75 to $0.79 on revenue of $1.73 billion to $1.76 billion -- nicely ahead of Wall Street's estimate of $0.67 and $1.73 billion. "Despite continued softening of demand in certain markets, we are pleased with our double-digit third quarter 2012 organic revenue growth rate, which in part benefited from our still very significant backlog," said CEO Frank Laukien. "As a result of our third quarter performance, we are raising our full-year 2012 revenue guidance."
With the stock now up about 40% from its 52-week low and trading at a 25-plus P/E, however, I'd wait for a larger margin of safety before buying into that bullishness.
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