Shares for Skechers USA Inc. are jumping in after-hours trading — up more than 8 percent to $28.24 as of 4:15 p.m. ET — after the firm posted Q3 earning that handily topped forecasts.
The casual footwear maker said today that its Q3 profits fell 1.7 percent year over year to $90.7 million, or 58 cents per diluted share, but were 7 cents per share higher than the 51 cents Wall Street had expected.
Sales — driven by an 11.8 percent increase in the company’s international wholesale business and a 10.6 percent increase in its owned global retail business — advanced 7.5 percent year over year to $1.18 billion, shy of market watchers’ bets for $1.22 billion.
Skechers, which clocked multiple quarters of blockbuster growth as it reaped the benefits of booming athleisure trends in 2016 and 2017, had started to experience some deceleration in more recent quarters. CEO Robert Greenberg today noted that its new wave of growth marks a promising achievement, considering the brand was up against tough comparisons.
Watch on FN
“Achieving record third-quarter sales is a notable accomplishment given the strength of our third-quarter 2017 sales,” Greenberg said. “Both our domestic and international businesses grew … We experienced strong product successes across multiple divisions around the world, which was evident by our double-digit growth in both our international wholesale and worldwide company-owned retail businesses.”
Total comparable same-store sales increased 1.9 percent as an 3 percent increase in Skechers U.S. business was offset by a decrease of 0.8 percent in its international stores. Still, international wholesale and retail sales combined now represent 55.5 percent of Skechers’ total business.
“As we near the close of 2018, we believe the direction of our business is on target with our record sales in the third quarter, continued international growth and strong gross margins,” said COO David Weinberg.
For the fourth quarter, the company expects sales in the range of $1.1 billion to $1.13 billion, and diluted earnings per share of 20 cents to 25 cents.
