Gardner Denver 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 air compressor and pump manufacturer Gardner Denver (NYS: GDI) sank as low as 10% on Friday after its quarterly results disappointed Wall Street.

So what: Gardner Denver's profit jumped 36% in the fourth quarter, but a miss on the top line -- revenue of $613.7 million versus the consensus of $630 million -- is triggering concerns over significantly slowing growth. While the company's energy segment is benefiting from strong demand, weakness in Europe continues to weigh heavily on its industrial business.

Now what: For the full year, Gardner Denver sees adjusted EPS of $6 to $6.20, which is pretty much in line with Wall Street estimates. "Looking forward, we expect our portfolio of businesses to grow in 2012, led by our higher margin, energy and later cycle EPG businesses and associated aftermarket services," said CEO Barry Pennypacker. "We remain more cautious in our outlook for the Industrial Products Group, particularly in Europe, and we continue to actively work on profit improvement programs across IPG in an effort to expand margins in a slower growth environment." When you couple Gardner Denver's still-solid fundamentals with its cheapish forward P/E, it looks like making a bet on that plan might be a good idea.

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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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