Why Ormat Tech 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 geothermal plant manufacturer Ormat Technologies (NYS: ORA) climbed 10% on Wednesday after its quarterly results and outlook topped Wall Street expectations.

So what: Ormat's first-quarter beat was so wide -- EPS of $0.17 on revenue of $132.4 million versus Wall Street's view of $0.05 and $113 million -- that analysts have no choice but to raise their growth expectations on the stock. Gross margin for the quarter even jumped to 30.1% from 15.3% in the year-ago period, fueling plenty of optimism over its future profitability as well.

Now what: Management now sees total full-year revenue of $480 million to $505 million, versus the consensus forecast of $482 million. "On the electricity side, we see the result of the well field and equipment improvement which increased generation and reduced operating costs," said CEO Dita Bronicki. "On the product side, we have successfully translated our technological leadership and proven execution abilities into a substantial backlog." With the stock still off about 15% from its 52-week high, there might even be some room to buy into that bullishness.

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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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