Hologic Shares Jumped: 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 medical imaging systems specialist Hologic (NAS: HOLX) popped 10% Tuesday after its quarterly results edged out Wall Street estimates.

So what: While Hologic's fourth-quarter results didn't exactly blow out expectations (EPS of $0.34 topped the analyst consensus by just a penny), revenue growth across all of its operating units suggests that demand remains quite healthy. Additionally, fewer writedowns in the quarter might also be a sign to investors that profits are finally ready to start growing with sales.

Now what: For fiscal 2012, Hologic now sees adjusted EPS of $1.35-$1.37 on revenue of $1.9 billion to $1.93 billion. While that forecast is slightly below Wall Street's view, management is probably being extra-cautious given its obvious broad-based growth. With a cheapish forward P/E of 12, betting on future upside surprises seems worth looking into.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. 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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