Ingersoll Rand Shares Got Crushed: 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 diversified manufacturer Ingersoll Rand (NYS: IR) plunged 17% in early Friday trading after lowering its full-year outlook.

So what: The guidance cut was so big -- management now expects per-share operating earnings of $0.77-$0.80 versus its prior view of $0.85-$0.95 per share -- that it's hard to blame Mr. Market for wanting to heavily discount the stock. In fact, Ingersoll shares are hitting their lowest level in more than two years on this news.

Now what: Expect more short-term pain for the entire space. Ingersoll's downside guidance doesn't exactly bode well for manufacturing gorillas like General Electric (NYS: GE) and 3M (NYS: MMM) , which a few analysts expect to issue profit-warnings of their own pretty soon. Of course, for investors searching for cheap blue-chips to hold over the long-term, the industrial sector seems like a good place to start.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of 3M. 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's disclosure policy always gets a perfect score.

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