Watts Water Technologies Shares Surged: 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 water safety and flow control engineer Watts Water Technologies (NYS: WTS) are showering its investors with gains today, rising as much as 19.9% on very heavy volume.

So what: Third-quarter earnings of $0.63 per share thrashed Street targets by a whopping 40%, partly thanks to currency effects but mostly through good old organic growth. A modest buyback program also added $0.01 per share to the bottom line.

Now what: Watts pulled off a remarkable performance given the murky economy and rock-bottom construction market. "The latest estimates we look at don't see a recovery in either market until late 2012 or early 2013," said CEO David Coghlan. He also noted that his stock trades at a 25% discount to industry peers such as Flowserve (NYS: FLS) and Mueller Water Products (NYS: MWA) , which is why there's value in that buyback program. I'd certainly sleep better after investing in the water management industry rather than in mortgage lenders or homebuilders, though they're all waiting for the same construction market to bounce back.

Interested in more info about Watts Water Technologies? Click here to add it to My Watchlist.

At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies mentioned. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Mueller Water Products. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinion, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Check out Anders' holdings and bio, or follow him on Twitter and Google+. We have a disclosure policy.

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