Wet Seal Drowning in Red Ink, Shares Sink
Women's retailer
Wet Seal
(WTSLA)
is drowning in its own red ink -- with shares of the retailer tumbling more than 17% on Friday to $3.04, a day after the company reported a 44% decline in quarterly earnings and said its second-quarter earnings would miss Wall Street's expectation.
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In the first quarter, the company earned $5 million, or 5 cents per share, compared with $8.9 million, or 9 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts expected the company to earn 4 cents.
Sales fell 7% to $132 million from $142.4 million a year earlier, hurt by a difficult retail environment and inventory issues.
While total comparable sales tumbled 7.3%, the company is seeing early signs of a turnaround at its Arden B chain.
Wet Seal forecasts second quarter earnings in the range of 2 cents to 5 cents a share. Analysts expect a profit of 8 cents. The company also predicts same-store sales will slip between 7% and 10%.
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