Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) reported that its net earnings increased by 17.6% to $15.4 million or $0.41 per diluted share, and net sales rose 2.3% to $635.9 million in the second-quarter.
The global footwear retailer’s second-quarter net earnings beat the $0.35 per share consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts, but its net sales fell short of their $637.6 million expectation.
Investors seemed unhappy with the second-quarter sales performance of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) as the stock price of the footwear retailer declined more than 3% to $30.30 per share at the time of this writing, around 12:19 P.M. in New York.
Diane Sullivan, chairman, president and CEO of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) said, “Our second quarter results reflect the health of both our retail and wholesale businesses, as we continue to benefit from — and expand on — our portfolio realignment efforts.”
Details of Brown Shoe Company’s financial results
Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) said the sales of Famous Footwear rose 1.4% to $393.6 million. According to the footwear retailer, its wholesale sales increased 7.7% to $194.3 million for the second quarter.
During the quarter, its Healthy Living platform’s wholesale sales went up by 1.7% to $106.6 million while its Contemporary Fashion’s wholesale sales climbed 17.1% to $87.3 million.
Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) said its consolidated profit increased 2% to $256 million while its gross margin declined 20 basis points to 40.8% during the period.
By the end of the quarter, the inventory of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) was $657.7 million, an increase of 6.8% from $615.9 million in the same quarter a year ago. Its wholesale inventory rose 22.9%.
Business outlook
Russ Hammer, CFO of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) said, “Despite a continued, industry-wide decline in traffic patterns and overall tough retail environment, we were able to deliver against expectations in the second quarter. To account for our better-than-expected second quarter performance, we are raising our annual guidance range…”
Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE:BWS) raised its earnings guidance in the range of $1.50 to $1.60 per share for the full-year 2014. The company expected to deliver consolidated net sales of around $2.58 billion to $2.60 billion and estimated a 10 basis points increase in gross margin.
