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 SeaChange International, (SEAC 29.41%) dropped more than 16% Friday after the multi-screen video specialist reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter results.
So what: Quarterly sales came in at $39.2 million, which translated to non-GAAP operating income of $0.09 per share. Meanwhile, analysts were modeling adjusted earnings of $0.15 per share on sales of $41.34 million.
In addition, SeaChange said it expects fourth-quarter revenue in the range of $40 million to $45 million, with non-GAAP operating income in the range of $0.15 to $0.20 per share. By contrast, analysts were looking for fiscal Q4 earnings of $0.35 per share on $52.12 million in sales.
Now what: To explain the shortfall, management elaborated the company has experienced "delays in receiving final product acceptances, and some agreements expected for the third and fourth quarter are experiencing delays in signing due to the expanded scope and complex nature of the customer decision making process, which involves the customer selecting multiple vendors."
While that naturally made skittish shareholders nervous, today's pullback could provide a great entry point for opportunistic long-term investors assuming SeaChange does close those deals as expected. With shares currently trading at less than 14 times next year's estimated earnings, I think investors would be wise to at least add SeaChange stock to their watchlists.
