Christopher & Banks Corporation Stock Downgraded (CBK)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Christopher & Banks Corporation (NYSE:CBK) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to sell. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its feeble growth in its earnings per share, deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity, poor profit margins and weak operating cash flow.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• CHRISTOPHER & BANKS CORP has exprienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share have declined over the last two years. We anticipate that this should continue in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, CHRISTOPHER & BANKS CORP reported poor results of -$0.62 versus $0.00 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 3.2% in earnings (-$0.64 versus -$0.62).
• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Specialty Retail industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 411.5% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from -$2.54 million to -$12.98 million.
• Return on equity has greatly decreased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of major weakness within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the Specialty Retail industry and the overall market, CHRISTOPHER & BANKS CORP's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• The gross profit margin for CHRISTOPHER & BANKS CORP is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 28.90%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of -13.50% is significantly below that of the industry average.
• Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to $1.49 million or 83.02% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower.

Christopher & Banks Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a retailer of women's apparel in the United States. The company offers women's apparel in sizes four to 16, and petite sizes under the Christopher & Banks brand name; and sizes 14W to 26W under the C.J. Banks brand name. Christopher & Banks has a market cap of $131.4 million and is part of the services sector and retail industry. Shares are down 40.3% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

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