Why Gigamon, Inc. Shares Dropped, Then Recovered

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 Gigamon plunged more than 10% early Wednesday, then recovered to close down just 1.3%, despite turning in better-than-expected fourth quarter results and solid forward guidance.

So what: Quarterly sales came in at $43.1 million, which translated to adjusted earnings of $0.18 per diluted share. By contrast, analysts were only looking for earnings of $0.12 per share on sales of $41.9 million.

For the current quarter, however, Gigamon expects a breakeven quarter on revenue of $34 million to $35 million. Analysts, for their part, were looking for looking for breakeven results on sales of $33.43 million.

Now what: Given industry peer F5 Networks' pop two weeks ago, investors were likely hoping for an even bigger beat and higher guidance from Gigamon.

But to be fair, Gigamon stock did jump more than 10% to end last week after a Goldman Sachs upgrade in anticipation of today's results. As it stands, investors should be pleased shares have actually risen slightly from Friday's close, even despite a broader market pullback.

The stock does look pricey today trading at 34 times next year's estimated earnings, but keep in mind that Gigamon should continue to benefit from improving U.S. enterprise spending going forward. While I'm not particularly compelled to buy today, at the very least I think investors would be wise to add Gigamon to their watchlists.