Children's Place Retail Stores Misses on the Top and Bottom Lines

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Children's Place Retail Stores (NAS: PLCE) reported earnings on March 7. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Jan. 28 (Q4), Children's Place Retail Stores missed estimates on revenue and missed estimates on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue improved slightly and GAAP earnings per share dropped significantly.

Margins contracted across the board.

Revenue details
Children's Place Retail Stores logged revenue of $457.5 million. The 11 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ hoped for sales of $477.9 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 0.9% higher than the prior-year quarter's $453.2 million.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.87. The 14 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.93 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $0.97 for Q4 were 20% lower than the prior-year quarter's $1.22 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 36.0%, 540 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 5.0%, 650 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 5.3%, 180 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $456.7 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $1.14.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.86 billion. The average EPS estimate is $3.70.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 149 members out of 199 rating the stock outperform, and 50 members rating it underperform. Among 67 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 48 give Children's Place Retail Stores a green thumbs-up, and 19 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Children's Place Retail Stores is outperform, with an average price target of $57.36.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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