Lennox International 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 heating and cooling specialist Lennox International (NYS: LII) climbed 10% on Tuesday after its third-quarter results topped Wall Street estimates.

So what: Economic worries have hit Lennox shares pretty hard over the past few months, but today's beat -- earnings of $0.80 per share versus the consensus of $0.78, on 12.8% revenue growth -- suggests things aren't that bad. In fact, management even took advantage of the market angst by repurchasing about $55 million of stock during the quarter, giving bulls even more reason to remain confident.

Now what: Expect things to remain steady in the short term. For the full year, management sees adjusted EPS of $2.00-$2.15 on revenue growth of 7%-9% (largely in line with estimates) and even upped its buyback target to $120 million in total. Of course, given Lennox's slim margins and big debt load, larger, more financially sound rivals like Johnson Controls (NYS: JCI) and United Technologies (NYS: UTX) seem like safer long-term picks.

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

At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributorBrian Pacamparaowns no position in any of the companies mentioned. 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 Fool'sdisclosure policyalways gets a perfect score.

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