Circuit City Earnings Plunge 82%
Consumer electronics retailer
Circuit City
(CC) - Get Report
said Friday its earnings plunged 82% in the first quarter, mainly from weak sales of personal computers.
Short Circuit |
|
The company said total sales, which include sales from both Circuit City stores and its
CarMax
(KMX) - Get Report
unit, were $2.68 billion in the quarter ended May 31, down 13% from the same period last year. Net earnings, which are allocated to the company's Circuit City Group and CarMax Group tracking stocks, were $17 million, compared with $60.7 million in last year's first quarter. This equates to 5 cents a share for Circuit City, the stock that generates more investor interest, a sharp decline from 28 cents a share earned in the same period last year.
The company's performance came in line with the Wall Street consensus estimate of 4 cents a share, according to
Thomson Financial/First Call
.
"We remain disappointed in the sales performance of our Circuit City stores," said W. Alan McCollough, president and chief executive of Circuit City Stores, in a statement. "The sales pace has varied significantly since this time last year, and so we are cautious in our outlook. The absence of major appliances and industrywide weakness in personal computer sales are the largest components of the overall decline in comparable-store sales."
Comparable-store sales, which measure activity in shops open at least a year, declined 25% in the quarter.
Shares in the Richmond, Va.-based company lately were off 12 cents at $15.28.
The company will host a conference call June 18 to discuss the results.