Why J&J Snack Foods' Shares Popped

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 Icee king J&J Snack Foods (NAS: JJSF) were looking pretty darn delicious to investors today as they jumped as much as 14% in intraday trading after a strong fiscal-second-quarter earnings report.

So what: For the quarter ending in March, J&J, which is behind snacktastic brands including SuperPretzel, Slush Puppie, and Luigi's Real Italian Ice, reported total sales of $190 million, up 16% from last year and ahead of the average Wall Street analyst estimate of $182 million. On the bottom line, analysts were actually expecting per-share profits to fall from a year ago, from $0.46 to $0.42. Instead, earnings per share rose a stellar 20% to $0.55.

Now what: In a refreshingly honest evaluation of the company's quarter and what's ahead, J&J CEO Gerald Shreiber said, "We are pleased with our overall results for the period and are hopeful the trend continues." Which I would translate to: "The company is executing well and doing what we need to do. We have a solid business and a good base of brands. The economy, which we have no control over, has an impact on our results and we hope that that impact continues to be a positive one."

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