Why Raven Industries' Shares Dropped (RAVN)

Why Raven Industries' Shares Dropped

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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 manufacturer Raven Industries (Nasdaq: RAVN ) fell as much as 10% today after reporting earnings.

So what: The company reported a 4% increase in sales to $97 million and a slight decline in profit to $10.9 million, or $0.30 per share. Analysts had expected revenue of $101.7 million and earnings of $0.34 per share.

Now what: The earnings report was pretty ho-hum, and when you aren't showing signs of solid growth on the top and bottom lines investors begin to get impatient. Shares are trading at 17 times trailing earnings, a price that's too steep for a no-growth company. I'm not a buyer today but if shares continue to fall they may be attractive as a play on future economic improvement.

Interested in more info on Raven Industries? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.

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Fool contributor Travis Hoium has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. You can follow Travis on Twitter at @FlushDrawFool, check out his personal stock holdings or follow his CAPS picks at TMFFlushDraw.

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