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 Integrated Device Technology (IDTI +0.00%) rose nearly 12% Tuesday after the company both reported better-than-expected fiscal second quarter earnings and boosted its existing stock repurchase authorization.
So what: Quarterly revenue fell 6.6% year over year to $124.6 million, which translated to an 11% increase in adjusted net income per share to $0.10. For reference, analysts were expecting lower adjusted earnings of $0.08 per share on slightly higher sales of $125.1 million.
In addition, investors applauded the company's decision to nearly double its existing stock repurchase program from $80 million to a total of $150 million.
Now what: IDT's interim CEO, Jeff McCreary, also elaborated to say the company plans on resuming its share repurchase activity during the fiscal third quarter, largely "given [management's] increased confidence in the business" and perceived ability to improve operating margin going forward.
Even so, note the company also provided forward quarterly guidance for revenue in the range of $123 million to $129 million. While the midpoint of that range does represent sequential growth, it still leaves room for a negative surprise going forward, given the admittedly limited visibility in booking trends over the short term. What's more, the stock doesn't look particularly cheap at around 20 times next year's estimated earnings, so I'm not entirely convinced an aggressive buyback is a definite home run for investors.
Dont get me wrong; shareholders could stand to be rewarded handsomely going forward if all goes as planned. Personally, though, I'd like to see more predictable, sustainable revenue growth translate to higher earnings per share (in lieu of a buyback) before I'd be willing to dive in.
