Image source: Globant.
What happened
Shares of Globant SA (GLOB 1.00%), the Luxembourg-based digital services company, got hammered today after the company reported third-quarter earnings that missed analyst earnings estimates. As of 11:30 a.m. EST, the stock is down more than 15%.
So what
For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, Globant SA reported sales of $82.4 million, up 23% year over year, and earnings of $10.5 million, up 15% over Q3 2015. On a per-share basis, Globant reported earnings of $0.30, which, though up from $0.26 a year ago, were slightly below analysts estimates. As a result, the stock is now selling.
Management still seems happy with its growth and future growth prospects. According to CFO Alejandro Scannapieco, "I am delighted with our financial performance for this quarter. Both our revenue growth and our gross, operating and net income margins continue to be very healthy. Growth is evenly spread among our customer base, with top 10 accounts increasing over 25% year over year, and not top 10 accounts growing above 20%." The company announced this week that it has acquired L4, a digital services company that Globant says will "strengthen its lead position in the digital services space."
Now what
For full-year 2016, Globant maintained its guidance for revenue of $320 million to $332 million and earnings per share in the range of $1.12 to $1.15. The high end of that guidance would represent 30% and 17% growth year over year, respectively.
Globant SA has not been a cheap stock, trading at over 40 times earnings for most of the last few quarters. That optimism seemed to get a little ahead of a company that does still look to have growth ahead of it, as forward estimates for next year's earnings place the stock at just 26 times those expected earnings. Now at a cheaper price after this sell-off today, and with what looks to be plenty of growth ahead, the stock certainly looks more attractive as a potential buy.
