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 microturbine manufacturer Capstone Turbine (Nasdaq: CPST) were spinning lower today, shedding as much as 21% on heavy volume.

So what: Capstone released results for its fiscal 2011 after the market closed yesterday, and investors didn't like what they saw. Interestingly, the company didn't make it particularly easy for shareholders to see what the company delivered in the fourth quarter  -- perhaps because it wasn't that pretty. Though sales for the quarter were up year over year, the $22.8 million lagged the $26 million that Wall Street was looking for. Meanwhile, a hefty $0.10 adjusted per-share loss was well off the $0.03 expected loss per share.

Now what: Capstone has certainly managed to show some top-line momentum, with revenue more than tripling over the past five years. However, earnings miss or not, I find it hard to get excited about a company that has consistently produced a negative gross margin. Obviously, there are investors that are attracted to speculative situations like this, but this Fool will wait to dig in more when the company is showing the ability to deliver some sort of profit.

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