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 higher-education-focused financial services company Higher One
So what: Revenue for Higher One's first quarter grew 32% from last year to $51 million, largely on the strength of the company's OneAccounts growth. Profit growth was slightly slower with non-GAAP earnings per share climbing 26% to $0.24. Both revenue and per-share profit were in line with Wall Street estimates.
Now what: In the earnings press release, the company also provided its view on the upcoming quarter and the full year. Management reaffirmed the full-year revenue range of $180 million to $188 million but upped its non-GAAP earnings per share guidance to a range of $0.69 to $0.75. At the midpoint, that guidance falls slightly short of the $0.74 that analysts are currently estimating. Likewise, second-quarter non-GAAP EPS guidance of $0.09 to $0.11 puts the company's midpoint shy of the $0.11 Wall Street is hoping for. Considering the in-line first-quarter results and guidance below the market's view, the strength in the shares today is a bit surprising, but I'm sure that investors aren't complaining.
My fellow Fool Jason Moser gave Higher One the nod for his Rising Star Portfolio earlier this year, and had a positive view of the quarterly report, noting that the current results were solid and the pipeline appears strong.
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