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 Westell Technologies, (WSTL) jumped more than 10% during Tuesday's intraday trading, then settled to close up around 5% after the company beat expectations with its latest quarterly report.
So what: Remember, shares of Westell also jumped last Thursday after analysts at Cowen listed the company in a new research report as a potential beneficiary of higher-than-expected 2014 capital expenditures budgets reported by several of Westell's large communications customers.
Curiously enough, Westell's quarterly revenue came in at $25.2 million, or short of expectations for sales of $26.75 million. However, that translated to adjusted net income of $0.07 per share, compared with estimates that called for a breakeven quarter.
Now what: Westell doesn't typically provide forward guidance, so it's hard to blame analysts for once again missing the mark. But hey, at least they were somewhere in the neighborhood this time, especially considering last quarter's blowout numbers resulted in the stock jumping by as much as 40% in a single day.
Nonetheless, while the results were solid, I still prefer more visibility from management in personally selecting my long-term investments. For now, and given the risk of being on the wrong end of such volatility going forward, that's why I have no qualms steering clear of Westell stock.
