Teradata 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 enterprise data warehouse company Teradata (NAS: TDC) fell as much as 13% this morning as the market worried about enterprise-level software spending.

So what: Software maker Oracle, seen as a bellwether in the industry, saw its earnings fall, which caused concern for smaller players like Teradata. The firm was also downgraded by analysts at Oppenheimer today.

Now what: The move today is a good excuse to step back and reconsider just how fast the enterprise software industry is going to grow. If Oracle is seeing customers delay orders and other firms are seeing the same trend, it might be time to take some money off the table in this space. I'm definitely not buying today's move and would tread cautiously as the industry sorts itself out in the coming quarters.

Interested in more info on Teradata? Add it to your watchlist byclicking here.

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.The Motley Fool owns shares of Oracle. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Teradata. 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.

Copyright © 1995 - 2011 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.