Why Universal Display's Shares Soared

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 Universal Display (NAS: PANL) continue to nudge higher today, currently sitting near a 17% gain after posting strong profit, despite missing EPS estimates by a penny at $0.23 per share. Revenue was roughly in line with expectations at $30 million. The company now expects $90 million-$110 million in full-year revenues. Analysts were expecting $101 million in full-year revenue.

So what: Universal Display is getting going in a big way, as this latest quarter was the best in company history, according to CFO Sidney Rosenblatt. The year-ago quarter's bottom-line result was a $0.03 loss per share, so this is certainly a big improvement. Material sales of OLED technology nearly doubled, and licensing revenue (much from a major deal with Samsung) grew substantially as well.

Now what: Universal Display isn't sitting still, and it recently added significant patent depth through an acquisition of Fujifilm's 1,200 OLED patents. The exploding smartphone market offers significant upside for Universal Display and its high-end OLED technology. This latest bounce reversed a slide that began nearly a year ago, but now that earnings are starting to fill out, Universal Display could become more attractively valued by year end.

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The article Why Universal Display's Shares Soared originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Alex Planes holds no financial position in any company mentioned here. Add him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter @TMFBiggles for more news and insights.The Motley Fool owns shares of Universal Display. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Universal Display. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.

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