Among the biggest winners in Thursday’s early trading are A-Power Energy (Nasdaq: APWR), Shuffle Master (Nasdaq: SHFL), and Men’s Wearhouse (NYSE: MW).

A-Power higher on Guidance

A-Power Energy Systems (Nasdaq: APWR), a China-based provider of wind turbines and energy distribution systems, has a history of missing quarterly forecasts. In its just-announced fiscal first quarter, the company has done it again. If you exclude one-time gains on sales and profits, the company would have lagged forecasts by a wide margin.

But investors are overlooking that, and instead focusing on management’s raised guidance. Not a modest boost, mind you. While the company and investors thought that 2010 revenues would come in slightly below $400 million this year, management now says that $500 million is a more likely target. And net income guidance for the year has been boosted from $45 million to $60 million. That works out to $1.33 a share, well above the $1.11 forecast. Investors are pushing shares up +20% on the sharp upward guidance.

This has been a very tricky stock for investors. A-Power has posted impressive growth – sales rose from $100 million in 2006 to more than $300 million in 2009 – and has been nicely profitable most years. But management has zero credibility after showing little ability to accurately forecast quarterly revenues and profits. Moreover, the company is pursuing large projects that require a lot of capital. That has led to serial equity offerings. Those factors explain why shares always sport a single-digit multiple even while the company is posting very high growth rates. Even after today’s upward move, shares only trade at about seven times management’s new guidance.

Action to Take –> Investors are best off ignoring the erratic short-term quarterly results, and focus on the long-term. A-Power is emerging as a leading provider of clean energy technologies in China and elsewhere. The Chinese government is throwing big bucks in support of clean energy, and favors domestic suppliers. A-Power still looks like a great way to play that market, and shares are quite cheap.

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Signs of a Casino Refresh

When you sit down at a casino for a hand of cards, you may notice a small device that automatically shuffles the cards for the dealer. Chances are, it’s made by Shuffle Master (Nasdaq; SHFL). To augment that core product Shuffle Master has been developing or acquiring other gadgets over the last decade that help to automate the gaming table. For example, the company sells an “e-table” that simulates a hand of cards without actual cards being involved. The broadening product platform has led to steadily rising sales, from around $50 million in fiscal (October) 2002 to a $190 million in 2008. The recent economic slowdown caused sales to fall -6% last year, and analysts had been expecting sales to rebound by a similar amount this year.

Now it looks as if growth is really picking up as consumers slowly migrate back to the gaming table and casino operators feel more emboldened to invest in new equipment. Fiscal second-quarter sales rose +12% from a year ago (though currency effects led to more muted actual results), and management now expects rising demand in subsequent quarters. More important, the sales mix is becoming dominated by higher-margin software and hardware offerings, which are pushing up gross margins and operating profits at a fast pace. Per-share profits of $0.15 were 36% above forecasts, pushing shares up +9% this morning.

Action to Take –> For the full-year, profits now look set to rise about +30% from the previous year. If the economy continues its steady and slow rebound, the casino industry should get back on its feet, and casinos are likely to invest in Shuffle Master’s gear ahead of that upturn. Shares, at around 15 times next year’s profits, look attractive, but you shouldn’t expect more than +25% or +30% further upside after today’s spike.

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Time for a New Suit

As Eric Roberts once said to Mickey Rourke in the movie The Pope of Greenwich Village, “Whatcha need a new suit if you ain’t got a job to wear it to.” That logic apparently isn’t deterring the current ranks of the unemployed. Many discouraged job seekers are beginning to hunt for new employment, and to that land that job, they’ll need a new suit. Some of them are apparently heading to clothier Men’s Wearhouse (NYSE: MW). On a conference call with analysts on Wednesday night, management noted that store traffic is notably increasing.

Quarterly sales climbed only modestly from a year ago, but were enough to keep management from having to mark down unsold goods. And that’s pushing up margins — and profits. Men’s Wearhouse more than doubled first-quarter net income, good enough for a +15% gain in Thursday trading. Investors are also heartened that profits in the current quarter may be aided by a robust tuxedo rental business, which always peaks around high school prom and wedding season.

This marks the fifth straight quarter that Men’s Wearhouse has topped estimates by a solid margin. Which makes you wonder why investors bid up the stock so sharply on the surprise.

Action to Take –> This as much a relief rally as anything, as shares had fallen by a third in the last six weeks. It’s important to note here that sales grew only modestly this quarter, and the real surprise was in profit margins. Look for earnings estimates to rise by a moderate amount, but it’s hard to see shares having much further momentum until the economy is on an even higher growth path.