What happened
Shares of Chart Industries (GTLS -1.22%), a maker of cryogenic gas processing and storage equipment, closed trading on Friday down 5.8%, which sounds like bad news. In fact, it's relatively good news for shareholders since at one point today, Chart was down closer to 17%.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
One thing may explain both the steep drop and the eventual recovery. This morning, analysts at investment bank Stifel cut their price target on Chart Industries by nearly 40% -- from $90, all the way down to $55. The magnitude of the cut probably shocked a lot of investors in this energy industry supplier. But again, this is something that sounds like bad news at first...and really isn't.
Now what
Consider that from a Feb. 14 high north of $73 a share, Chart Industries stock has already tumbled 62% in less than two months. At Friday's closing price, the shares cost only $27.75 -- just half the price that Stifel thinks they're now worth.
Yes, one way to look at today's price-target cut is to say: "Oh, no! Stifel thinks the stock is worth 40% less than what it thought it was worth yesterday!" But a more optimistic spin on the news might be to say, "Stifel thinks these shares could double."
Little wonder, then, that after the initial panic, investors swarmed back into Chart stock, and erased (almost) all of the shares' earlier decline.
