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 power-controller chip designer International Rectifier (NYSE: IRF) are soaring 13.5% above last night's closing prices on a powerful earnings report.

So what: First-quarter sales and profits were surprisingly strong and helped along by very high gross margins. The report was impressive enough to drag rivals Cirrus Logic (Nasdaq: CRUS) and ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN) up in smaller but still impressive intraday gains as well -- a win for the entire power-chip industry.

Now what: Despite a weak consumer market, International Rectifier is riding to strong business on the backs of industrial and automotive customers. That bifurcated trend is expected to continue to enrich the company's product mix and overall sales in the coming quarter. A word of warning after all this good news: International Rectifier is still rather expensive when compared to other stocks in its immediate industry, and you may find better deals elsewhere.

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