Why Shares of Super Micro Computer, Inc. Fell Wednesday

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 Super Micro Computer were down 9.7% as of 1:45 p.m. today, after dropping as much as 12% earlier in the day, in the wake of the company's weak fiscal-third-quarter earnings release yesterday.

So what: Super Micro reported$471.2 million in revenue and $0.47 in adjusted earnings per share for the quarter ending in March. Revenue was down 6% year-over-year, but EPS was up from the year-ago quarter's $0.37 result. Wall Street had expectedSuper Micro to report $475.7 million in revenue and $0.50 in adjusted EPS, so the results were understandably underwhelming.

The company's guidance for its fiscal fourth quarter now anticipates revenue in the range of $510 million to $560 million, with adjusted EPS ranging from $0.53 to $0.62. These ranges are a bit soft compared to Wall Street'sestimates, which anticipate $543.8 million in revenue and $0.62 in EPS.

Now what: Today's drop means that Super Micro investors are only sitting on a 55% gain for the past year, rather than the 75% gain they held yesterday. That's solid growth, and shares are now trading at a modest 17.8 P/E.

If Super Micro hits the midpoint of its EPS guidance for the fourth quarter, it will wind up reporting $2.16 in adjusted earnings per share for its 2015 fiscal year, which is good for a forward adjusted P/E ratio of just 14.2. That's quite reasonable for a company that's seen its trailing-12-month EPS rise more than fourfoldsince the end of 2012, especially since full-year EPS of $2.16 would be a whopping 61% higher than 2014's result. Today's drop is nothing to fear, and it might even represent a good buying opportunity for investors with a bit of cash on hand.

The article Why Shares of Super Micro Computer, Inc. Fell Wednesday originally appeared on Fool.com.

Alex Planes 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.