Pall 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 Pall (NYS: PLL) were crushed today after the filtration company issued preliminary fourth-quarter results.

So what: Earnings increased 77% from a year ago to $97.4 million, or $0.82 per share, but fell short of what analysts were expecting. Excluding special items, earnings were $0.76, well below the $0.88 analysts expected. That has led analysts to cut expectations for 2012, sending shares lower.

Now what: Jefferies analyst Jon Wood cut his 2012 earnings expectations to $3.05 per share from $3.30 per share and Baird analyst Richard Eastman cut his forecast to $3.22 per share. The two analysts have price targets of $54 and $58, respectively, so there is still some nice upside for investors willing to hang on. Shares may settle lower in coming days, but a continued fall in the stock's price should leave investors with a nice value to enter the stock.

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

At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Travis Hoium does not have a position in any company mentioned. You can follow Travis on Twitter at @FlushDrawFool, check out his personal stock holdings or follow his CAPS picks at TMFFlushDraw.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 has a disclosure policy.

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