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 building product distributor Stock Building Supply Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ: STCK) jumped more than 10% briefly today after reporting earnings.
So what: Fourth-quarter net sales were up 21% to $305.2 million and the company swung to a net income of $3.0 million, or $0.11 per share, from a loss last year. Analysts were only expecting revenue of $299.8 million and earnings of $0.06 per share.
Now what: Increased margins were a result of cost-cutting measures as well as the ability to spread fixed costs over a larger sales base. In this seasonally slow quarter it was positive to see the return to a profit. There are big hopes for the next year: Wall Street is expecting $0.91 per share in earnings in 2014 and given the momentum of sales growth I think shares will continue to rise as expectations are adjusted higher.
