QuinStreet 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:QuinStreet (NAS: QNST) popped 21% in intraday trading today after announcing better than expected earnings and revenue growth.

So what: Non-GAAP EPS of $0.24 was flat with the year-ago quarter but trounced the $0.18 consensus estimate. GAAP EPS of $0.13 was also flat year over year. Revenue of $91.1 million grew 6% year over year, helped by 12% growth in the education vertical market.

Now what: Just over two months ago, management warned of near-term weakness, including expectations of flat year-over-year revenue growth for several quarters. The earnings release acknowledged "obvious challenges in the economy and in some of our markets" but did not comment on the outlook beyond stating the company "made progress continuing to develop our competitive advantages and footprint for future growth." It remains to be seen what changes analysts may make to the consensus estimate of an 8% EPS decline over the coming year. At today's intraday price of $13.01, the stock had a non-GAAP P/E ratio of 11.6 times forward earnings but a less compelling GAAP P/E ratio of 24 times.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Cindy Johnson does not own shares of any company named above. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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