What: Shares of Sierra Wireless (SWIR) rose more than 15% Monday despite no new company-specific news.
So what: Even after today's pop, note Sierra Wireless stock has still fallen more than 30% so far this month, including a 25% single-day drop after the Internet of Things specialist released weaker-than-expected third-quarter results a little over a week ago. Keeping in mind Sierra Wireless had already issued similarly disappointing guidance with each of its two previous earnings reports, Q3 technically marked the first time this year that Sierra Wireless also fell short of Wall Street's already reduced top- and bottom-line estimates.
Even so, Sierra Wireless CEO Jason Cohenour insisted his company's Q3 results were "solid," but also admitted revenue was slightly below expectations as demand for 4G-enabled enterprise notebooks was temporarily affected by an industry transition to a new processor platform. Demand here should return to normal in the coming months. At the same time, Sierra Wireless issued light guidance for the current quarter, blaming both the aforementioned transition and the timing of orders to a single large automotive customer.
Now what: However, these headwinds should prove temporary and don't appear to signal larger problems with Sierra Wireless' business. To be sure, Sierra Wireless showed signs of life elsewhere in its report, including healthy 26% year-over-year growth from its promising Enterprise segment, as well as the company's largest-ever automotive design win with an unnamed international OEM. Revenue from that win should begin flowing in 2018.
Incidentally, I tend to agree with Cohenour's assessment that Sierra Wireless' performance of late has generally been "solid" -- even if it's not enough to appease Wall Street in these early stages of the company's growth. For now, considering Sierra Wireless closed Friday near a fresh 52-week low, I'm not particularly shocked to see Sierra Wireless stock enjoy a short reprieve from the market's pessimism today.
