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 IT outsourcing company iGATE
So what: What do investors want at this time of year? They want to see their companies topping Wall Street's expectations. Or, at least, that's what almost always gets companies' shares moving like the electric boogaloo.
For the final quarter of the year, iGATE did exactly that -- beat expectations -- at least on the bottom line. Sales for the fourth quarter skyrocketed to $267.7 million from $81 million last year, while non-GAAP earnings per share slipped from $0.34 in 2010 to $0.27. Analysts had expected the company to report $0.26 in per-share profit on $268.8 million in revenue.
Now what: While it's good news that iGATE managed to inch above Wall Street's earnings estimates, it should be little surprise that the business grew as much as it did versus last year since the company took the major plunge of buying Patni Computer Systems
This was a positive quarter, but there are still some very real question marks for iGATE's results to answer in the coming quarters and years.
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