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 Daktronics (DAKT 1.98%) plunged today by as much as 20% after the company reported earnings.
So what: Revenue in the fiscal third quarter came in at $111.1 million, which was shy of the consensus estimate of $123.8 million in sales. The earnings per share of $0.06 was also light relative to the $0.07 per share profit that the market was expecting. CEO Jim Morgan said sales were hurt by on-site schedule changes that delayed several large projects.
Now what: Gross profit was also negatively affected by the weak top line since the company has a high level of fixed costs in its infrastructure. Daktronics also said its order backlog includes some work that won't be recognized in the fourth quarter, either, due to customer schedules. That being said, revenue in the current quarter is still expected to grow both sequentially and year over year. Gross profit will be lower due to shifts in the business mix toward lower-margin contracts.
Interested in more info on Daktronics? Add it to your watchlist by clicking here.
