Why Shares of Joy Global Inc. Jumped 20% Today

Image source: Joy Global.

What: Shares of mining equipment maker Joy Global Inc. jumped 20% late in trading Thursday after reporting fiscal second-quarter earnings.

So what: Sales fell 26% in the quarter to $602 million, and the company swung from a profit of $56.0 million a year ago to a loss of $9.8 million, or $0.10 per share. Management also noted that bookings were down 9% from a year ago to $681 million, and cash generated from operations fell $27 million to just $44 million.

Despite all of this bad news, adjusted earnings per share were $0.09, easily topping the $0.03 per share loss Wall Street was expecting. And that outperformance was enough to send shares sharply higher today.

Now what: This is really a case of performance being slightly better than already-depressed expectations. Low commodity prices and a weak mining environment globally is no surprise to anyone today, and if you look at bookings versus revenue and cash generation, we may be seeing the market hitting bottom -- and maybe even improving slightly. While there may be a slight improvement in mining equipment demand, I don't see this being a long-term trend, and with Joy Global still losing money, I don't see a reason to jump into the stock today.

The article Why Shares of Joy Global Inc. Jumped 20% Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

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.