Outdoor financials: Quiksilver posts Q1 loss, plus Outdoor Channel, Cabela's, Crocs

Quiksilver posts Q1 loss

Quiksilver (NYSE: ZQK), parent of Rossignol, said it swung to a fiscal first-quarter loss, as rising costs offset higher sales.

Loss for the quarter ended Jan. 31 totaled $21.9 million, or $0.18 per share, compared with profit of $2.5 million, or $0.02 per share last year. Excluding the results of its golf-equipment business, which are reported as discontinued operations, net loss was $0.12 per share.

The cost of goods sold rose 18 percent to $329.6 million, and selling, general and administrative expenses increased by 26 percent to $280 million.

Revenue rose 15 percent to $605.3 million from $528.7 million last year.

The company said apparel and footwear results offset weak results from wintersports equipment. Quiksilver said it is trying to “reduce or eliminate” its wintersports equipment business.

Apparel sales rose 19 percent to $500 million, while wintersports equipment revenue fell 2 percent to $104.8 million.

“Apparel amazingly strong given the environment, a testament to the strength of the portfolio,” Brad A. Stephens, a Morgan Keegan & Co. analyst, wrote in a note to investors.

Stephens said the weak equipment results might hurt the sale price slightly, but he was positive about the results.

“At this point we’re thrilled the core apparel business is thriving and we’d be happy with the Rossi loss going away and the working capital freed-up,” he wrote. He has an “Outperform” rating on the company.

Shares rose $0.81, or 10.1 percent, to $8.87 in afternoon trading on March 7. The stock has traded between $5.69 and $15.51 during the past year.



Outdoor Channel reports losses for Q4, FY ’07

Outdoor Channel Holdings (Nasdaq: OUTD) narrowed its loss from operations to $1.0 million for the 2007 fourth quarter from a loss from operations of $3.1 million for the prior-year period.

Total revenues declined 1.7 percent to $11.7 million in the 2007 fourth quarter from $11.9 million in the same 2006 period.

Quarterly advertising revenue rose 12.3 percent to $8.2 million from $7.3 million in the prior-year period. Subscriber fees declined 23.9 percent to $3.5 million from $4.6 million in the 2006 fourth quarter.

The company’s quarterly net loss from continuing operations was $1.6 million, or $0.06 per share, consistent with the same 2006 period. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for the effects of discontinued operations and share-based compensation expense, equaled $1.5 million for 2007, versus $1.4 million for 2006.

For the FY ’07, advertising sales increased 13.7 percent to $29.1 million from $25.6 million during 2006. Subscriber fee revenues rose modestly to $17.8 million from $17.7 million in 2006. Total revenues for 2007 grew 8.3 percent to $46.9 million from $43.3 million in the comparable period a year ago.

The company posted a loss from operations of $3.4 million for 2007, compared with a loss from operations of $13.0 million the prior year. It also incurred a net loss of $1.9 million, or $0.07 per share, compared with a net loss of $7.0 million, or $0.28 per share, for 2006.

Cabela’s executives exercise options

Cabela’s (NYSE: CAB) reported that two of its executives exercised options in early March. The company submitted Form 4s with the SEC for the following:

>> Joseph M. Friebe, vice president, exercised options for 22,020 shares of stock on March 3 for $11.20 apiece and then sold all the shares the same day for $13.56 to $13.64 apiece.

>> Director Michael R. McCarthy bought 310,000 shares of common stock March 5 for $13.33 to $13.85 apiece. On March 6, he bought another 117,300 shares of stock for $13.52 to $14 apiece.

Insiders file Form 4s with the SEC to report transactions in their companies’ shares. Open market purchases and sales must be reported within two business days of the transaction.

Crocs says it’s not selling to Costco

Crocs (Nasdaq: CROX) said it will not sell directly to Costco, but has found some cases where it believes its products were sold indirectly to the retailer.

“We have not sold Crocs-branded products to Costco nor have we authorized any of our customers to sell our products to Costco,” CEO Ron Snyder said in a statement. “We are continuing to take aggressive measures to prevent this from happening. I want to reiterate that Costco is not an authorized dealer of Crocs products.”

Snyder’s statement came a day after Richard Galanti, Costco’s CFO, told analysts that his company buyers are seeing more brands they historically could not access.

“Somebody just the other day mentioned huge availability in the apparel, things like name-brand jeans and name-brand women’s apparel and Crocs and the like,” Galanti said in a statement.

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