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 oil and gas company TETRA Technologies (TTI 1.24%) jumped 13% today after announcing preliminary fourth-quarter results and an acquisition.
So what: Management said fourth-quarter 2013 earnings per share are expected to be between $0.10 and $0.12, excluding one-time charges and 2014 earnings will grow around 37% to $0.80 to $0.90 per share. Those results are actually lower than expectations, but the projections were overshadowed by an acquisition.
TETRA also announced it will buy WIT Water Transfer, which provides water management services in Texas and North Dakota.
Now what: Terms of the acquisition weren't announced, but investors clearly like the growth opportunity the larger company has ahead. Texas is the big growth market right now in fracking, and TETRA's services will be a key piece of that growth. It'll take a while to see the financial impact, but given the growth expected next year, I think shares have room to run higher, especially as natural gas drilling picks up nationwide.
