This afternoon Crocs, Inc (NASDAQ: CROX) reported its first quarter numbers, and the stock is soaring in after-hours trading -- despite missing Wall Street estimates by a penny.Going into this afternoon's report, analysts were expecting to see the company show earnings of 10 cents a share, but the company failed to miss that estimate, by posting 9 cents a share for its most recent quarter. Despite missing by a penny, the stock has been moving up strongly in after-hours trading, with investors so far pushing shares up a bit over 14%?
Doesn't sound right, does it? The recent market has been punishing stocks that have missed estimates, so why is CROX shooting to the upside?
There are two main reasons for the stock's strong move after hours. The first is the revenue number. The company posted revenue during the quarter of $198.5 million, higher than the consensus estimate of $196.67. While the revenue numbers are certainly giving investors reason to celebrate, the company's full year forecast could be the biggest catalyst for the stock's move. Analysts had been expecting to see CROX show full year EPS of $1.60, but the company announced today that it is expecting to show full year earnings between $1.70 and $1.80.
As I discussed in the earnings preview for the stock, CROX has been under so much selling pressure lately, and the victim of so much bad news, that as long as the stock did not report miserable earnings, it would make sense investors would see this afternoon's results as a positive for the company. There was already so much bad news and negative expectations priced into the stock that it was poised to make a good move on even mediocre earnings, and that is exactly what we are seeing today.
So there you have it ... earnings fell a bit short, but the company is once again showing signs of life, and being rewarded for it nicely in after hours trading (now up 15.8%).
Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-07-2008 @ 5:57PM
42 said...
gawd, bottom-feeder frigtards...
this company is a zero, but not today.
5-07-2008 @ 11:46PM
Robert said...
I believe Crox is a screaming buy, but no one really wants to pay attention to this buy, because the market has punished this stock so badly. However, cream does eventually float to the top!!
Crox is going through some very understandable growing pains, and the investment community has overly punished the stock price for these growing pains. I believe that Crox will use their first quarter as a dumping ground for as many of these growing pains as possible, and therefore this quarter will be the worse, but only from a P&L point of view.
With this said, let's be annalistic about this quarter and crox's business, and take a good look at some of the items that everyone is screaming about being so terrible. I believe that the screaming is not only without merit, but it also shows a lack of understanding some basics, when it comes to operating a business. The major items that everyone is screaming about are as follows:
SALES...........................The company is going to fall short of their projected sales. Agreed, no one likes to see sales fall short of projection. However, 195 mil to 200 mil is nothing to sneeze about. Sure, it is not 225 mil, and this 13.3% short fall is not going to be looked at happily. However, the sales are still substantially higher then a year ago, as a matter of fact they are going to be up about 37% to 41%, and even in the United States, they will be up 13.% above last year. Any business that grows at the rate 37% to 41% per year is still doing well by any standard. Keep in mind that crox is directly related to the retail business, and how many retailers do you know that have a 13% growth here in the States, in a not so hot, perhaps recessionary period? Bottom line is that sales this quarter are still very, very good.
Gross Profit...................Crox's gross profit for a manufacturing company, has been over 50%, which is just amazing. Most manufacturing business's operate more like within a 25 to 35 percent gross profit. This quarter, Crox is going to have a gross profit in the 40's % area. They have already informed us that this lower GP is going to be just for this quarter. I suspect that they have charged their cost of goods sold for everything they possibly could have. They also are closing their Canadian factory because it was not operating at peak capacity, and the Canadian dollar exchange was unfavorable. Also, so much of the sales increases like 90% in Europe, and 75% in Asia does not allow for them to make shoes in Canada and ship them overseas. This gross profit percentage is almost unheard of in the manufacturing of shoes. Take a look at any other shoe company, including Decker's and you will see that this GP % is one of the great assets of Crox. Keeping in mind that most retailers would be very please to maintain a GP % like this, only crox does not have all the expenses that retailers do.
Annual Earnings............Crox is forecasting fiscal 2008 diluted earnings per share, to be between $1.70 and $1.80. Let's use $1.75 for example. A multiple of ten times earning would be conservative, therefore their stock price should be more like $17.50. If you use a twenty times EPS, the stock price would be $35, based on 2008 earning. If the company has been conservative, then the stock price should be even more. So, please tell me why this stock is selling at $10?
Stock Buy-Back................Crox has announced that their Board of Directors approved a stock buy-back for 5,000,000 shares. This buy-back is not to commence until Crox has released their first quarter final numbers. I suspect that the reason for the buy-back is because the company actually intends to buy their stock, not like one of those announced buy-backs that never takes place. I feel this way, because there is room for the first quarter to be a little better then the pre-announcement and the company did want to buy back after the pre-announcement, because they would have purchased shares at lower prices then the stock will be selling for after the final numbers are announced and the company did want to be in position where they purchased stock in their buy-back at a lower price then the selling shareholders would have realized after the final first quarter numbers are announced, creating bad will and a possible class action law suit.
5-09-2008 @ 1:36PM
Tinkerbell said...
When you wish upon a star.... Look, it's the Crocs fairies telling us to buy, buy, buy... so they can make their money back.
Just let this terrible fad die a slow death.
5-15-2008 @ 11:58AM
Johnny 5 said...
Just look at the stocks soar... woo hoo.
I would suggest getting out while the gettin's good.
Also, they still have lawsuits pending against them for lying to their investors several months back, remember?