an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of business software specialist Qlik Technologies (QLIK) plummeted 19% today after the company's quarterly results and outlook disappointed Wall Street.
So what: The stock has soared in 2013 on a string of better-than-expected quarters, but today's Q3 revenue miss -- $104.1 million vs. the consensus of $107.8 million -- coupled with downbeat guidance is forcing Mr. Market to quickly sober up. While the company continues to increase both its top and bottom line at a solid pace, today's results suggest that it isn't growing fast enough to justify its seemingly rich valuation.
Now what: Management now sees full-year adjusted EPS of $0.23-$0.26 on revenue of $465 million-$470 million, well below its prior view of $0.37-$0.41 on revenue of $473 million-$481 million. "We've reallocated resources to develop new integrated offerings, split the sales organization into renewals and new business teams, and simplified our management structure," said CEO Lars Bjork. "We are taking action to bring more discipline to the management of our growing pipeline, and we expect these changes to take some time to fully impact our results." When you couple that uncertainty with the stock's still-lofty price multiples, however, I'd wait for an even wider margin of safety before betting on Qlik to turn around.