It is safe to say that the past couple of years have been tough on shareholders of Circuit City (NYSE: CC), and today is no different as the company posted a large loss for its fiscal first quarter. Shares of the electronics retailer are down 7.5% after the company posted a loss of $1 a share for its most recent quarter.The company stated that the main reason for its poor performance last quarter was weak sales performance in the company's established stores. This really should not come as a big surprise to us since we have been well aware of the company's faltering sales over the past couple of years. On the whole, same-store sales dropped by 11.3%, and continues to affirm the belief that Circuit City definitely has its work cut out for it if it ever wants to start regaining its lost market share.
The total loss on the quarter totaled $164.8 million, about triple the $54.6 million loss it recorded for the same period last year. I wish I could say that things are looking brighter down the road but that is just not the case, as the retailer is expected to post another large loss for its second quarter. Analysts had been expecting to see a loss of $143.4 million for the current quarter, but the company issued weaker guidance, stating that it expects to see a loss of somewhere between $170 and $185 million.
Revenues also dipped in the last quarter, which marks the fifth straight quarter of shrinking revenues, as the company posted revenues of $2.3 billion. This equates to a 7.4% drop in revenues, slightly below analyst estimates of $2.37 billion.
The company, which put itself up for sale last month, simply has not been able to compete against its main rival, Best Buy (NYSE: BBY). For Best Buy's most recent quarter, the company posted a same-sore sales increase of 3.7%. Looking at the difference in the two stores same-store sales growth gives us a really clear picture of just how much healthier is Best Buy.
All in all, yet another disappointing quarter for the company, and all signs are pointing to more rough times ahead.
For an idea of just how bad the stock has performed over the past 24 months, Here's a two-year chart:

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.









