Tutor Perini 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 building construction company Tutor Perini (NYS: TPC) sank as low as 10% on Friday after its quarterly results and full-year outlook disappointed Wall Street.

So what: Tutor Perini's fourth-quarter whiff was so wide -- EPS of just $0.50 versus the consensus of $0.75 -- that analysts are being forced to lower their growth expectations considerably. Of course, the stock has been on fire over the past few months -- up over 50% from its early October lows -- so today's hiccup shouldn't come as a big surprise.

Now what: Looking ahead, management sees 2012 EPS of $2.10-$2.30 on revenue of $4.5 billion-$5 billion. "During 2012 we expect to add significant civil work to backlog and, led by the recently announced Hudson Yards development project, to grow our East Coast building business," said Chairman and CEO Ronald Tutor. "Our integrated service capabilities, enhanced through the acquisitions made last year, represent a competitive advantage that we believe will contribute to additional large scale awards in 2012." With the stock now trading at a forward P/E of about seven, buying into that optimism might even pay off.

Interested in more info onTutor Perini?Add it to your watchlist.

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.

Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.