Why Universal Display Shares Popped

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 Universal Display (NASDAQ: PANL  ) popped today by as much as 18%, after the company was discussed at Columbia's Value Investing Conference.

So what: Universal Display was framed as a possible best idea pick at the conference, which is particularly notable, because most investors would consider UDC as anything but a value stock. Shares trade at 147 times earnings and 17.5 times sales, well into growth territory.

Now what: The discussion led to hopes that UDC could become the "Qualcomm of OLED," with its broad patent portfolio, much like how Qualcomm extracts royalties on virtually every smartphone sold. The portfolio could be undervalued at current prices. Presentations at investing conferences have been known to move stocks in the past, and that was the case today for Universal Display, even though there was no official news out from the company.

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