Wet Seal Goes Negative

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Wet Seal (NAS: WTSL) reported earnings on March 21. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Feb. 2 (Q4), Wet Seal beat slightly on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue contracted slightly. Non-GAAP earnings per share dropped to a loss. GAAP earnings per share shrank to a loss.


Margins contracted across the board.

Revenue details
 Wet Seal tallied revenue of $161.7 million. The five analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ wanted to see sales of $159.3 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were the same as the prior-year quarter's.

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

EPS details
 EPS came in at -$0.06. The four earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged -$0.06 per share. Non-GAAP EPS were -$0.06 for Q4 compared to $0.03 per share for the prior-year quarter. GAAP EPS were -$0.97 for Q4 versus $0.01 per share for the prior-year quarter.

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 24.8%, much worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was -10.8%, much worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -53.1%, much worse than the prior-year quarter. (Margins calculated in GAAP terms.)

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $137.6 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is -$0.01.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $559.5 million. The average EPS estimate is $0.03.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 192 members out of 229 rating the stock outperform, and 37 members rating it underperform. Among 61 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 47 give Wet Seal a green thumbs-up, and 14 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Wet Seal is hold, with an average price target of $2.85.

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The article Wet Seal Goes Negative originally appeared on Fool.com.

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. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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