What Happened?
Shares of construction equipment company Astec (NASDAQ:ASTE) jumped 18.4% in the afternoon session after the company reported strong fourth-quarter 2024 results, with EPS and EBITDA significantly surpassing analysts' expectations. However, revenue fell well short of estimates, as weakness in the Materials Solutions segment offset strong growth in Infrastructure Solutions. Looking ahead, backlog declined 26.4% year-on-year, indicating potential challenges in sustaining recent growth. Overall, the quarter was solid, with strong earnings growth and margin expansion outweighing revenue softness, though backlog trends suggest some near-term headwinds.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
Astec’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 7 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for Astec and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
Astec is up 11% since the beginning of the year, but at $36.40 per share, it is still trading 18.1% below its 52-week high of $44.45 from April 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Astec’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $907.97.
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