Why Aspen Technology 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 business software company Aspen Technology climbed 11% today after its quarterly results topped Wall Street expectations.

So what: The stock has rallied nicely over the past year on better-than-expected growth, and today's Q3 results -- adjusted EPS of $0.25 tripled the consensus on a revenue spike of 30% -- only reinforce that trend. In fact, strong subscription and software demand more than offset a small revenue decline from its services segment, giving Wall Street plenty of good vibes over Aspen's ability to grow despite the challenging economic environment.

Don't expect the operating momentum to slow anytime soon. "We are seeing continued customer interest in our aspenONE subscription software offering, and believe we have a significant opportunity to increase the product penetration rate and usage levels among our large base of blue-chip customers," said CEO Mark Fusco. Of course, with the stock now up more than 50% from its 52-week lows and trading at a forward P/E of 40, much of that growth might already be baked into the price.

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The article Why Aspen Technology Shares Popped originally appeared on Fool.com.

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