Skechers Profit Drops 58% on Weaker Sales

Shoemaker Skechers USA Inc., citing weaker sales, reported a 58% drop in first-quarter earnings Thursday and said it may lose money in the current quarter.

Investors responded by shaving 11% off the price of the Manhattan Beach-based company’s stock, which closed Thursday at $6.55, down 79 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has lost 73% of its value over the last year.

Skechers said it earned $8.5 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with $20.3 million, or 53 cents, in the same quarter in 2002.

A consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected earnings of 8 cents a share. Skechers beat those expectations partly because some advertising expenses were nudged into the current quarter because of a later Easter holiday.

Sales slid nearly 15% to $208.6 million on weaker mall traffic and tepid consumer spending, the company said.

This quarter, Skechers’ per-share results could range from a nickel loss to a nickel profit, Chief Financial Officer David Weinberg said. Analysts were expecting second-quarter earnings of 23 cents a share.

Though overall footwear sales are down this year, some companies have performed well, partly by capitalizing on the retro trend, said analyst Mitch Kummetz of D.A. Davidson & Co.

For example, Westlake Village-based K-Swiss Inc. said Thursday that its first-quarter earnings rose 41.1% to more than $13.6 million, or 72 cents a share, compared with nearly $9.7 million, or 49 cents, a year ago.

Analysts expected earnings of 59 cents a share.

Sales jumped nearly 44% to more than $115.9 million.

K-Swiss also raised hopes, saying it expected per-share earnings of 60 cents to 65 cents this quarter and $2.05 to $2.15 for the year.

Analysts were expecting second-quarter earnings of 38 cents a share and annual earnings of $1.80 a share.

Investors sent the company’s stock to a 52-week high during Nasdaq trading Thursday. It closed at $29.91, up $2.08.