Why Vocera Communications Shares Tumbled

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 Vocera Communications , a mobile communication solutions provider, dipped as much as 17% following the release of its fourth-quarter results and first-quarter forecast, and receiving an analyst downgrade.

So what: For the quarter, Vocera reported a 24% increase in revenue to $27 million as non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA more than doubled and EPS came in at $0.10 -- $0.03 above the Street's expectations. What crushed Vocera was its first-quarter guidance of $23 million to $25 million in revenue on breakeven earnings to a loss of $0.05. Wall Street was expecting $28.2 million in revenue and a profit of $0.08 for the upcoming quarter. In response to these results, research firm Sidoti downgraded Vocera to neutral from buy.

Now what: Despite Vocera's management team appearing confident that the company is heading in the correct direction, and management boosting its long-term margin target to 70%, it's a bit hard to understand why Vocera's guidance fell so short of Wall Street's estimates. Vocera's full-year guidance was in line with estimates, so perhaps it deserves a pass on the upcoming quarter, but the situation bears watching.

Craving more input? Start by adding Vocera Communications to your free and personalized Watchlist so you can keep up on the latest news with the company.

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The article Why Vocera Communications Shares Tumbled originally appeared on Fool.com.

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