Shoe Carnival Profit Falls; Outlook Weak - Update

(RTTNews) - Footwear retailer Shoe Carnival Inc (SCVL), Thursday reported a lower fourth-quarter profit, hurt by declines in sales and margins, with the topline falling short of Wall Street estimates. The company provided some weak guidance for the first quarter as soft business conditions cast some pressure.

The results were marked by a decline in same-store sales and the company also had to bear the impact of the recent quarter being a week shorter compared with last year, Shoe Carnival said in a statement.

Evansville, Indiana-based Shoe Carnival posted fourth-quarter net income of $0.6 million or $0.03 per share, compared with $3.2 million or $0.13 per share last year.

On average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.04 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the fourth quarter slid to $200.3 million from $205.7 million a year ago. Analysts expected sales of $203.8 million for the quarter.

On a same-store basis, sales for the quarter were down 2.5 percent.

Gross margin for the quarter dropped 80 basis points to 28.5 percent, while selling and general expenses, as a percentage of sales, increased to 28 percent from 26.7 percent last year.

For the first quarter, Shoe Carnival projects earnings of $0.45 to $0.52 per share and sales of $232 million to $241 million. Analysts currently expect earnings of $0.49 per share on sales of $252.3 million for the quarter.

The company expects same-store sales for the quarter to be flat to down 3.5 percent.

Shoe Carnival, which now operates 379 stores, said it expects to open 30 to 35 new stores in fiscal year 2014.

Shoe Carnival stock closed Thursday at $24.94, down $0.45 or 1.77%, on a volume of 140k shares on the Nasdaq. In after hours, the stock dropped $0.17 or 0.68 at a$25.11.