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 fluid-product maker IDEX Corporation (IEX 1.03%) jumped as much as 13.5% in early trading after reporting earnings, and then fell to about a 5% gain for the day.
So what: Sales rose 6% in the fourth quarter, to $519 million, and net income jumped 18%, to $68 million, or $0.82 per share. Growth in the health and science technologies, and fire and safety divisions led the sales growth.
Now what: IDEX beat estimates every quarter in 2013, and has some decent momentum on both the top and bottom line. Paying 22 times forward earnings isn't cheap, though, so management will have to accelerate top-line growth to justify its valuation. I'm not seeing enough value to jump in today, but that may change if top-line growth picks up in the future.
