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 Symmetry Medical (NYSE: SMA), a medical device solutions and surgical instruments manufacturer, dipped as much as 17% after the company updated its second-quarter and full-year financial guidance.
So what: Looking to the second quarter, Symmetry Medical is now forecasting that the company will earn $0.06-$0.08 in EPS on $98 million to $100 million in sales. Both figures are well below the $0.15 in EPS on $105.3 million in sales that Wall Street had anticipated. Furthermore, Symmetry lowered its full-year EPS to a range of $0.40-$0.50 on revenue of $400 million to $415 million -- also below the Street's estimates. Symmetry's management team blamed an ongoing integration of its surgical segment and procedural weakness in key markets for what could be an expected revenue drop of up to 19% this year -- as well as continued weakness in European markets that is hurting its instrumentation orders -- for its lowered forecast.
Now what: That was certainly not what shareholders were looking for in an update, and it technically marks the third straight quarter that it has widely missed expectations. However, I am nonetheless cautiously optimistic about Symmetry's future given a rapidly aging population and what should be a steadily increasing need for surgical products and medical instrumentation. It might be best to wait until the company's surgery segment shows signs of life, but Symmetry's a company that I feel could offer an attractive valuation following today's tumble.
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