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 Methode Electronics (MEI 4.07%) skyrocketed by as much as 42% Thursday after the OEM electronics component specialist reported its fiscal first-quarter 2014 results and raised forward guidance.
So what: Quarterly net sales grew 40.9% from the same year-ago period to $167.3 million, while net income nearly quadrupled to $13.8 million, or $0.36 per share. For reference, analysts were expecting earnings of just $0.21 per share on net revenue of $148.85 million.
Additionally, Methode raised its full-year fiscal 2014 sales guidance to a range of $670 million to $700 million, with earnings per share of $1.40 to $1.60. By contrast, Methode's previous guidance called for sales of $630 million to $660 million, and earnings per share of $0.91 to $1.11.
Now what: Methode's performance was largely driven by strong demand for its technology in center consoles built for both General Motors and Ford, which in turn drove a 45.8% increase in the company's overall automotive segment, including an 86.1% year-over-year improvement in sales from its North American business. What's more, strong appliance sales helped Methode's Interconnect business grow 37.9%, and higher demand for cabling and busbar products helped its Power Products sales grow 43%.
In short, given all this profitable growth, Method looks like it's firing on all cylinders. Considering the stock is still valued under 22 times last year's earnings and 16.9 times next year's estimates, it looks like today's pop is definitely justified.
