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 HollySys Automation (HOLI -2.33%) have fallen by 17% today, in what appears to be a delayed response to the Chinese industrial automation specialist's fiscal second-quarter earnings report released late last week.
So what: HollySys reported revenue of $130.3 million for the quarter, with adjusted earnings of $0.40 per share. Both top- and bottom-line results missed Wall Street's expectation for $137 million in revenue and $0.40 in EPS, and also fell 15% and 11% lower, respectively, than year-ago results. HollySys has not offered third-quarter guidance, but it continues to expect full-year revenue to range from $565 million to $600 million, which would result in adjusted net income of $94 million to $98 million. This range should provide adjusted EPS of $1.59 to $1.66, based on HollySys' current share count.
Now what: It's never a good sign when a company's top and bottom lines both fail to clear the year-ago quarter's results, but it's also worth pointing out that HollySys is still on track to surpass its fiscal 2014 revenue by at least 8%, and should do at least 7% better than last year's adjusted EPS. It should also be noted that HollySys' P/E ratio has now fallen to a 52-week low, and the stock is also about as affordable as it has been in the past two years. I'm not too excited about a company that expects to grow by low double digits over last year, but HollySys might be a good buy today if you believe its growth will accelerate in its next fiscal year.
