Make up your mind, Mr. Market.
When laser equipment maker and Motley Fool Hidden Gems recommendation II-VI
They seemed perturbed by the fact that the firm managed to meet analysts' desired $0.32-per share earnings estimate squarely, despite selling only $72.7 million worth of goods. (This further illustrates the patent silliness of the concept of a "revenue miss." Can someone please explain what's wrong with earning more by selling less?)
And today, with the market in free fall, what do investors do with II-VI? They bid it up 3%. Crazy.
Wrong yesterday, right today
So which face of the now-confirmed schizophrenic Mr. Market are we to believe? Personally, I think investors are getting it as right today as they got it wrong yesterday. Here's why, in a nutshell:
Reining in costs
II-VI grew its sales 20% year over year in Q1, translating that to 28% profits improvement, despite raw materials costs outpacing sales gains, 21% to 20%. The company accomplished this feat through stringent cost control. Selling, general, and administrative expenses grew a bare 7% -- but this story gets even better.
Remember how I complained about the dearth of research and development expenditures last year? Well, II-VI turned on a dime in Q1 and ramped R&D spending 50% year over year last quarter.
That's good news for two reasons. First, it shows that, just like at EMC
Sales on the horizon
The other reason for optimism today is that we're seeing bigger things for tomorrow. Sales growth of 20% is swell, but even better is management's observation that it booked 27% more new business in Q1 2008 than one year ago. To me, that promises accelerated sales growth down the road, and with its costs contained, I think we can all guess what that means for II-VI's profits.