ZOLL Medical Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

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 health-care equipment maker ZOLL Medical (NAS: ZOLL) surged more than 25% Friday after its quarterly results and full-year outlook easily topped Wall Street expectations.

So what: Driven by strong growth in its core defibrillator business, ZOLL's third-quarter earnings per share spiked 62%, to $0.42, versus the average analyst estimate of just $0.35 per share. ZOLL shares are hitting all-time highs on the report, so it's clear that investors expect the positive sales momentum to continue.

Now what: ZOLL's short-term outlook looks sunny indeed. Management also raised its full-year profit outlook to about $1.35 per share, largely reflecting the trend of hospitals finally starting to spend again after the past few years of penny-pinching. I'm not thrilled with ZOLL's valuation at this time, but given its solid growth prospects and debtless balance sheet, I'd be jumping on any significant pullback.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributorBrian Pacamparaowns no position in any of the companies mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool'sdisclosure policyalways gets a perfect score.

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