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 EPAM Systems Inc (EPAM 1.58%) rose more than 10% early Thursday, then settled to close up around 5% after the IT services specialist turned in solid first-quarter results and announced an acquisition.
So what: Quarterly revenue rose 29.1% year over year to $160.4 million, which translated to 34.3% growth in adjusted earnings per share to $0.47. Analysts, on average, were looking for earnings of just $0.41 per share on sales of $153 million.
Separately, EPAM Systems announced the acquisition of Jointech, a provider of strategic technology services to global investment banks. Specific financial terms for the deal weren't disclosed.
Now what: This in mind, including the impact of both its Jointech purchase and its March acquisition of health care tech consulting firm Netsoft, EPAM sees full-year 2014 revenue growth of 25% to 27%, and adjusted net income growth of 23% to 25%.
Meanwhile, EPAM expects current quarter revenue between $168 million and $170 million -- or growth of 26% to 27% from the same year-ago period -- and adjusted earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.47 to $0.48. Analysts were modeling second-quarter earnings of $0.47 per share on sales of $164 million.
Assuming EPAM didn't pay a horrendous premium for its latest acquisition, these were solid results by any measure. With shares currently trading at a reasonable 14.4 times next year's estimated earnings, I think EPAM still has plenty of room to reward long-term shareholders from here.
