Aspen Technology 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 Aspen Technology (NAS: AZPN) surged more than 23% in early trading but have since given back almost half that gain. Investors were impressed with the company's fiscal fourth quarter results.

So what: Revenue soared 38% to $52.6 million, resulting in an adjusted net loss of $0.20 a share. Analysts had been expecting a $0.22 a share loss on $47.48 million in revenue, according to data compiled by Yahoo! Finance. Nice beat, right?

Now what: Don't expect Fools to be impressed. Many are skeptics of the company, which competes with Honeywell (NYS: HON) and SAP (NYS: SAP) , among others, in providing software for aiding manufacturing processes. The 75 who've rated the stock give it just one of five stars in Motley Fool CAPS. Falling margins could be partly to blame. Either that or a history of losses that shows no signs of reversing. Do you agree? Would you buy at these levels? Weigh in using the comments box below.

Interested in more info on Aspen Technology?Add it to your watchlist.

At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributorTim Beyersis a member of theMotley Fool Rule Breakersstock-picking team. He didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article at the time of publication. Check out Tim'sportfolio holdingsandFoolish writings, or connect with him onGoogle+or Twitter, where he goes by@milehighfool. You can also get his insightsdelivered directly to your RSS reader.Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. 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.

Copyright © 1995 - 2011 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.