With its stock in the toilet as the hype surrounding its ugly, clog-like, sandal shoes subsides, Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) has taken to putting out daily press releases announcing pretty much anything. From May 13th through the 16th, the company actually managed to announce something every single day.
First the company announced that it had won a $56 million judgment against a company that had the audacity to produce charms for its footwear, violating the intellectual property of its Jibbitz company. But the stock failed to budge and the company didn't comment on the collectability of that judgment.
Then on the 14th, the company announced that it had launched "www.CitiesByFoot.com, a comprehensive website with guides to more than 70 shops, restaurants, boutiques and historic destinations in six U.S. cities." Just what we need: another travel site.
On the 15th, Crocs hired a new vice president of merchandising and, on the 16th, Crocs announced its new website again, just for fun. That same day Crocs also announced that it had debuted "Two New Women's Footwear Styles at the National Restaurant Association Show."
Five press releases in four days including one duplicate: the shamelessly-promotional hat trick was complete.
I've been critical of Crocs for a long time. Last year, the company's executives sold an enormous amount of stock as the share price soared. But the hype is gone now, and even 10 press releases a day won't make this one into a hot momentum stock again.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-22-2008 @ 8:41AM
Bill said...
Hey Zac, We know very well that you don't care for Crocs from all the times you have mentioned it in the past just like how you go on and on about Crocs mentioning the same thing twice. If we could only be so fortunate to only seeing you mention something twice then leaving it at that. Why don't you practice what you preach. Life is just too short and precious and maybe you will consider that instead of having this obsession and issues with a shoe.
By the way I'm a surgeon and many of my patients find a great deal of comfort with Crocs shoes where they can walk with little or no pain at all when nothing else could give them the relief to get around and enjoy life. Some even tried to save money by buying the cheaper knockoff copycats which resulted in going back to the store they purchased them at for a refund. Almost all the Nurses, Dr's, hospital staff including myself wear Crocs during our 8-24 hour shifts which were grateful for the comfort they provide us. I guess you would have to walk a mile in our shoes or in this case stand awhile. When I am performing surgery and standing anywhere between 4 to as many as 10+ hours the hard floors are hell on the feet. At the health club I go to as well my co-workers and friends wears Crocs as many other members. Its truly a shame that you have such a deep hatred for a company that has given so many people their freedom back without every step being in agony. Another fact is many on staff can keep their minds focused 100% on their jobs instead of their painful feet especially in our line of work when someones life is literally in a surgeons hands. If I was performing a delicate and might add a complicated surgery on you would you want me in pain or would you want me to take the greatest of care being focused soley on you so you could return home in a few days to be with the people that love you, depend on you and would be empty without you in their life. I don't know if you have kids Zac but there have been times when I have had to see loved ones faces when a Dad, Mom or another member of the family didn't make it during surgery having to tell them while looking into their eyes, hearing the gut wrenching screams and seeing the endless tears which never ever leaves my head or the heads of my colleagues after a loss.
Its funny that some dumb shoe company can have such an impact on just the mediacal community and patients that don't take walking for granted. Zac, if your feet needed to be surgically repaired from an accident or it was just painful for you to walk for any reason and Crocs shoes were the only shoe that brought you relief to have a normal life what would you do? Would you buy a pair or would you deal with constant pain when it wasn't necessary? Just think only a couple professions were looked at here so can you imagine all the different jobs out there that put stress on the feet and legs that cause discomfort and agony in people. There is a saying that if the feet aren't right neither is the body and mind. I am sure deep down your not a cruel person and I would ask before you make judgements in the future that you will break things down looking at the total picture. If you have to hate there are plenty of things out there to put your energy towards like a war with 5000 brave soldiers that have come home in flag draped coffins, 10's of thousands injured mentally and physically for life plus a couple of hundred thousand non americans killed or mamed. This was not meant to bust your hiney only to open your eyes a bit. Have a good day.
5-22-2008 @ 2:02PM
Jon Burren said...
I would rather see press releases that keep stock holders in the loop as far as what Crocs is doing than be left out in the dark. What is shameless about doing press releases? Yes, they have made some mistakes, but what company does not? From what I have seen they are doing all the right things to make this a great company once again. Not only for their employees and stock holders, but the environment as well. What other shoe company has initiated a recycle program to give shoes to unfortunate third world countries? As far as the Executive that sold their options, this is predetermined way before a price is known and not done just because a stock is climbing. There are many untapped markets that Crocs has targeted, it takes initiative and hard work to do this along with building inventory to service the demand, creating the proper merchandising for the various markets. etc. etc. I see nothing wrong with announcing that Crocs recently hired a new
vp of merchandising, which has the credentials to put Crocs back on the map, not only in the USA, but throughout the world. At one time we all hoped this stock would reach 100, this was told to us by the media and many so called experts. So many of us got on the Crocs bandwagon. They were dead wrong, just like your comments that this will never be a hot stock again. What comes around goes around.
5-22-2008 @ 8:46PM
Tracy Coenen said...
Is this a website about footwear for medical professionals? Or about footwear for patients in the hospital?
Or could it be that this is a website about public companies and the value that they're offering to shareholders (or not)? Because doctors and nurses can love these God-awful shoes as much as they want. It still doesn't mean that the stock is worth its share price. And that's what this site is really about... discussing shareholder value and the performance of companies, etc.
NICE POST ZAC. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!
5-23-2008 @ 9:16AM
Bill said...
First of all Tracy my comment was a reply to Zac regarding his Statement. All I mentioned was that hundreds of doctors also staff wear them but more importantly ten's of thousands in this country that had surgery plus others that have avoided surgery wear them giving them the freedom to enjoy life again without the agony when walking. I have the freedom to make any comment I wish to make whether you may like it or not. Yes it is also about shareholder value and with our medical team all being shareholders of Crocs with over 30,000 shares purchased so far. So I would think Tracy that gives me the right to a comment here and there. Would you not agree?
5-23-2008 @ 10:39AM
luebypopoff said...
you deride crocs for the news release, but your blog is listed in the same news-feed window all the news releases are in. You're just adding to the news releases. Ironic, don't you think?
For centuries man has pursued growth, the aggrandizement of knowledge and technology, to better humanity. The ultimate goal of growth was to make life better. But now, for the first time ever, companies pursue growth simply to grow. We have forgotten our responsibility to the world and to one another. All we care about stock prices, ROE's, P/E, and estimates. Who cares if a company is making millions of dollars; if it isn't growing at 20% annually, then the stock gets creamed. There is so much more to life than the bottom line! We need a new breed of investors that invest in the future: humanity's and the earth's. In 50 years when the combined growths of China, India, and US have exhausted all natural resources, who's going to care about stock price or how much one's retirement fund is worth? Keep the big picture in mind and support those companies that are trying to make a difference.
5-23-2008 @ 11:11AM
Tracy Coenen said...
Yikes Bill. Sounds like you've lost a lot of money on Crocs!
5-24-2008 @ 6:42PM
Bill said...
Just the opposite Tracy. When we decided to buy into Crocs it was priced at $42.00 then rode it up to $70.00 with all of us having the feeling it was not going much higher with all the negative tones. It ended up being a very good decision to cash in at that point not letting greed get the best of us. We sat back while the stock went to hell which in our minds is such a shame still believing in the company. We bought back in when it hit $11.00 thinking there is still life so we shall see what the future holds.
5-28-2008 @ 1:39PM
Boo Ridley said...
That's fine if you like the shoes, but it doesn't make this company Jesus.
I used to work there, and if illegal immigrants making close to minimum wage forced to work overtime and some weekends is your idea of a company making a difference then you need a new set of values.
5-28-2008 @ 1:51PM
Footsies said...
Hey Bill, I stand for 12 hour shifts only sitting on my breaks and lunch, so cry me a river. I tried Crocs for about a month because people kept telling me how wonderful they were. Well, two chiropractor appointments later I'm told they are hurting my lower back. I went back to my normal shoes and like a miracle the pain went away.
I use them for taking out the trash, but that's about it. I think the stock price reflects the actual worth of the company fairly. A small percentage of people get relief out of these shoes, but the large majority don't and stop buying them for a lot of different reasons. You can't create hype after people have tried them and decided they weren't that great, it's over.
5-29-2008 @ 7:45AM
Al said...
The problem that I have with CROCS is that they pour every dollar of earnings into growth capex and additions to inventory. Instead of bolstering their balance sheet to weather bad times, they maintained a growth forecast.
5-30-2008 @ 2:10AM
vegasbob said...
Uhh, let's see...
WalMart sells Crocs knockoffs for $6. "Real" Crocs sell for $35 in Dillard's department stores, but most of the time they're on sale for $19.99.
Somehow I think this one is a short-sell even at $11 a share...
5-30-2008 @ 12:41PM
Tinkerbell said...
Good luck with that Bill. I don't think Crocs will see $11/share again. Yes this company has some positives, but the negatives far outweigh them. It's good that they hired someone new, because over the last few years it's become clear that the current management are clueless fools. I used to know a guy that worked in their Niwot warehouse, and you would shudder at the stories. This company is not making a difference, it's the same as every other company out there trying to make a quick buck. Yes Boo they hire illegals, but fake SS #'s are given so why would they do anything about it? Safety is not one of their concerns when it comes to employees, nor is proper compensation. They recently laid-off some people, my friend no longer works there so I didn't get the scoop on that. I do know that they go through temp workers like water, which is just disrespectful to workers in general. Apparently they don't like to hire full-time and give benefits. They string them along for as long as they can through the temp agencies, then cut them loose when it's time to hire them. So everyone needs to stop it with speeches about how this company is making a difference because it's just ignorant of the facts. Don't even get me started on their customer service department... they moved them all to the warehouse so they wouldn't have to clasify them as "office" workers and pay more.
So just stop people, you're making yourselves look like idiots.
6-05-2008 @ 7:50AM
gary in tampa said...
Crocs at $10.00 after losing .05/share in Q1 of 2008, vs. CHSH.OB (China Shoe Holdings) at .20/share after making almost .01/share in the same Q?
I'll take CHSH.OB here, as they're now launching their new Kanggies brand of upscale ladies shoes in Shanghai.
A very un-Croc brand in China.
http://www.Kanggies.cn
6-09-2008 @ 11:15AM
HoldThePresses said...
Crocs, Inc. and Outside Magazine Team Up to Create Inspiring Soles Program....
...aka, Cynical PR Program.
***That is all***
6-18-2008 @ 7:54PM
Rubbish said...
The company is expected to have 50%-100% growth this year internationally (according to MSNBC). Even though the stock fell after the Q1 earnings report, the revenues for Q1 this year were more than $20m higher than they were for Q1 last year. The company is expected to clear $1B in earnings by the end of 2009, which is a 10% growth from 2008 expectations.
The company launched a large variety of new shoes this year, which people are eating up, just read x amount of blogs to see the answer. It's kind of sad to see the vast majority of "haters" be completely oblivious to the numbers and general info. Seriously? The majority of haters are still bitching about the bright "rubber" shoe which hit the market FOUR years ago. The company has moved on, and it looks like most of you need to do some research.
As for Crocs' medical use, Footsies, some of the Crocs shoes won the American Podiatric Society's highest award last year for their ability to help people with back problems. But, once again - like most of the people complaining here - you didn't do the research to find out exactly which shoes those were, did you?
All of the programs which Crocs is launching are a way to better understand their consumer and to generate sales, i.e. the walking tour website. (In case you didn't notice there is a huge button linking to the online store directly.)
So, here you are complaining about a company which is being proactive in it's communication with consumers and shareholders, while you obviously have no knowledge on it's market position and re-branding efforts.
Obviously, with millions of sales world-wide - increasing exponentially - those who think the shoes are "ugly" are a minority.
6-19-2008 @ 12:30PM
Rubbish said...
The company is expected to have 50%-100% growth this year internationally (according to MSNBC). Even though the stock fell after the Q1 earnings report, the revenues for Q1 this year were more than $20m higher than they were for Q1 last year. The company is expected to clear $1B in earnings by the end of 2009, which is a 10% growth from 2008 expectations.
The company launched a large variety of new shoes this year, which people are eating up, just read x amount of blogs to see the answer. It's kind of sad to see the vast majority of "haters" be completely oblivious to the numbers and general info. Seriously? The majority of haters are still bitching about the bright "rubber" shoe which hit the market FOUR years ago. The company has moved on, and it looks like most of you need to do some research.
As for Crocs' medical use, Footsies, some of the Crocs shoes won the American Podiatric Society's highest award last year for their ability to help people with back problems. But, once again - like most of the people complaining here - you didn't do the research to find out exactly which shoes those were, did you?
All of the programs which Crocs is launching are a way to better understand their consumer and to generate sales, i.e. the walking tour website. (In case you didn't notice there is a huge button linking to the online store directly.)
So, here you are complaining about a company which is being proactive in it's communication with consumers and shareholders, while you obviously have no knowledge on it's market position and re-branding efforts.
Obviously, with millions of sales world-wide - increasing exponentially - those who think the shoes are "ugly" are a minority.
6-20-2008 @ 2:32PM
Maximus said...
I don't own the stock YET...
My wife has been in love with CROCS since they came out & my kids wear them all summer long. I have had back problems on & off for years & recently the wife bought me my first pair. I have to admit, the most confortable shoe I have ever worn. I did some background work & discovered yesterda7 that the nano technology used in the making of the shoes makes them ANIT-Bacteria forming. No odors, no fungus - Thats a plus plus in my book.
Knowing that Crocs still has a lot of global growth & the P/E at 5, I will be a buyer between $8.00 & $9.00 & consider it a long term investment.
Will it ever be a $100.00 stock? No way, but I believe at $8 - $9.00, there is money to be made. Summer is here & its Crocs best sales time, well see pertty soon is it was a fad or not.
6-25-2008 @ 1:27AM
STRUMboli said...
Hello,
I just bought a thousand shares of Crox today. Personally, I think those shoes are the ugliest, weirdest looking things I've ever seen. But it's not about me. If they are selling the stupid things, that's all that matters. As a day trader, I can't afford to get personally involved in what people sell. I base my decisions on price behavior, amount of debt, timing, momentum, margins, luck etc. It's all a crap shoot anyway. Legalized gambling, nothing more. There was a time when things were different. In the new republican world of Cramerica it's not about people, it's about money. Some call it the Kudlow creed. Whatever the monster is called, we still need to eat. Who can afford to sit around and wait for a stock to go up. Get in, get out. If you have profit, you better take it or lose it. You can lose more money in the stock market in one day than you can make in an entire year! I average about 30% a year. But you gotta be quick! Real quick! Good luck with Crox. I won't even remember the name two days from now. No need to get attached to any company. Let me ask you, if Crox saw you on the street, do you think they would care if your kid was sick. No way! All businesses are trash. Only your friends and family cares. Please make a note of it.