Why Insperity's Shares Dropped Today

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 solutions provider Insperity dropped as much as 10% today after the company's earnings release.

So what: Third-quarter revenue was up 5.5% from a year ago to $539.9 million, but fell short of the $546.1 million analysts expected. Net income fell 12% to $9.8 million, or $0.39 per share, $0.03 below estimates.

To make matters worse, management lowered its full-year earnings-per-share guidance to $1.35-$1.40 from a previous range of $1.51-$1.61.

Now what: Higher than expected health care costs ate up a lot of the potential profit increase, and investors clearly expected too much growth. With shares trading at 24 times the top end of this year's estimate, I think it's just too expensive to get into Insperity right now. This thesis might change if growth picks up or the stock drops, but there are better values on the market right now.

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The article Why Insperity's Shares Dropped Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Travis Hoium has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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