Why Velti Shares Got Destroyed

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 Velti (NASDAQ: VELT  ) got destroyed today, down by as much as 36%, after the company reported a surprise loss in the third quarter.

So what: The company posted record revenue of $62.4 million, which was an increase of 62% from a year ago and narrowly beat analyst expectations. That all translated into an adjusted net loss of $1.8 million, or $0.03 per share, while investors were looking for a $0.03 per share profit.

Now what: Research and development costs were up in the quarter, and since the company accelerated its software development cycles, it had to reduce capitalization of those costs. Velti also said it was divesting assets in challenging geographies, specifically in the Greek and Balkan regions. Guidance was also soft, with fourth-quarter sales predicted in the range of $97.1 million to $113.1 million, short of the $121.1 million in sales that analysts were expecting.

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