Why Harman International Industries' Shares Jumped

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 Harman International (NYS: HAR) rose 10% in early trading after announcing earnings and a big order.

So what: Fiscal-third-quarter revenue rose 16% to $1.09 billion, and earnings per share were $0.74. Analysts had expected $1.03 billion in revenue and $0.67 in earnings per share. The company also won a $2 billion contract from its largest customer, BMW.

Now what: The excitement that investors had early this morning wore off, and shares are now up just 4% on the day. The earnings beat is really a bigger deal than the BMW order right now because the order won't go into production until 2014. It does, however, give Harman a little assurance for the long-term that its biggest customer is still on board. I like shares at this point because they're trading at just 13 times forward earnings and the company is on a solid growth path.

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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.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.

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