OYO Geospace Shares Plunged: 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 seismic data expert OYO Geospace (NAS: OYOG) shook down to a 14.7% overnight drop this morning, bouncing back to a smaller 6% loss on curiously low volume.

So what: The lack of high-volume trading is unusual because the company reported third-quarter results this morning. Its $46.4 million in sales fell somewhat short of Street expectations, but the $1.44 of earnings per share was right on the nose.

Now what: CEO Gary Owens expressed satisfaction with these results but also said that he was "uncertain how current worldwide economic matters will potentially impact our business in the future." OYO is a small player in a big market where rivals ION Geophysical (NYS: IO) , Amphenol (NYS: APH) , and CGG Veritas (NYS: CGV) have many times its modest market cap, sales, and resources. But the company is also doing many things right, like introducing a flexible range of buy, rent, or lease options for its seismic equipment. Earlier this summer, that flexibility led to Dawson Geophysical (NAS: DWSN) converting a large equipment rental into an outright sale, boosting OYO's results significantly.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies discussed here. The Motley Fool owns shares of CGG Veritas, Dawson Geophysical, and ION Geophysical. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Dawson Geophysical and OYO Geospace. 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 Motley Fool is investors writing for investors.

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