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 Rexnord Corp (ZWS 0.25%) dropped as much as 11% today after the company reported earnings that failed to impress investors.
So what: Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue fell 7.5% to $518.5 million, falling well short of analysts' estimate of $548.9 million. However, net income of $32.3 million, or $0.54 per share on an adjusted basis, did meet expectations.
Management said that growth for 2016 would be between -2% and 1%, with adjusted earnings per share of $1.53 to $1.63. That's up slightly from adjusted earnings per share of $1.52 for the past fiscal year.
Now what: Slow growth is certainly a concern for investors and it brings the company's valuation into focus. If the company's revenue is going to be flat for the next year, or even decline slightly, the stock is expensive at 16.5 times trailing earnings, especially when you consider that adjusted earnings pull out very real costs like amortization and stock-based compensation. Real earnings per share for the last fiscal year were $0.88 and a no-growth stock trading at 28 times earnings is certainly too rich for me in today's market.
