Why Primoris Services' Shares Plunged

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 Primoris Services (NAS: PRIM) fell 11% today after the company released first-quarter earnings.

So what: In the quarter, revenue fell 19% to $291.6 million and net income dropped to $10.5 milion, or $0.20 per share, from $12.3 million a year ago. Analysts had expected $339.1 million in revenue and $0.24 per share in earnings.

Now what: A big earnings miss like this will usually have shares tumbling, but I'm willing to look past that to the future. Management said that if you take out the impact of the Ruby pipeline project last year, revenue and profits grew modestly in this seasonally weak quarter. The company also announced $263.5 million in new contracts that should be completed by the end of the year. With a forward P/E ratio of 8.8, this could be a bottom if financial results improve even slightly from here.

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At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Travis Hoium has no 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 don't 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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