Why Bruker Shares Bounced

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 life-sciences tools specialist Bruker (NAS: BRKR) climbed 11% today after its quarterly results and outlook easily topped Wall Street expectations.

So what: The stock has slumped in recent months on concerns over the slowing global economy, but a wide third-quarter beat -- adjusted EPS of $0.28 on revenue of $447.8 million, versus the consensus of $0.15 and $421 million -- coupled with upbeat full-year guidance naturally eases some of those worries. While a weaker euro and soft demand in Europe continue to pressure sales, better-than-expected domestic growth seems to be offsetting those headwinds particularly well.

Now what: Management now sees full-year 2012 adjusted EPS of $0.75 to $0.79 on revenue of $1.73 billion to $1.76 billion -- nicely ahead of Wall Street's estimate of $0.67 and $1.73 billion. "Despite continued softening of demand in certain markets, we are pleased with our double-digit third quarter 2012 organic revenue growth rate, which in part benefited from our still very significant backlog," said CEO Frank Laukien. "As a result of our third quarter performance, we are raising our full-year 2012 revenue guidance."

With the stock now up about 40% from its 52-week low and trading at a 25-plus P/E, however, I'd wait for a larger margin of safety before buying into that bullishness.

Interested in more info on Bruker?Add it to your watchlist.

The article Why Bruker Shares Bounced originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Brian Pacampara has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. 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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