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 Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT +0.99%) jumped 10% today after the company reported earnings.
So what: Sales fell 1.3% in the fiscal second quarter, to $581.9 million, and net income dropped $1.1 million, to $25.9 million, or $0.61 per share. Analysts were expecting $593.7 million in revenue, and earnings of $0.59 per share; so, while profits were better than expected, the top line was clearly well short of expectations.
Now what: Management pointed to weak industrial demand and negative foreign currency translation as a driver of the weak top line. Guidance was maintained at earnings of $2.65 to $2.95 per share, so the weakness is expected to be short-lived. I'd like to see top-line growth before jumping in, but the cost controls that led to a decent bottom-line result is encouraging for investors.
