The recent slump in Men’s Wearhouse shares is the cautionary tale of a merger gone bad.
After already losing close to half of its value this year, Men’s Wearhouse Inc was hammered in after-hours trading after the men’s clothier reported a quarterly loss on Wednesday afternoon. The firm said sales at its Jos. A. Bank division continued to be well below expectations, and reported a fiscal third-quarter loss of $27.2 million, after reporting a profit in the third quarter last year.
Details on Men’s Wearhouse third quarter miss
In its third quarter earnings report, the Men’s Wearhouse admitted it had suffered a third-quarter loss of $27.1 million, or 56 cents a share, after enjoying a profit of $6.8 million, or 14 cents a share in 3Q 2014. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 50 cents a share. Revenues also dropped to $865.4 million from $890.6 million a year ago. Wall Street consensus analyst estimates were for third-quarter earnings of 50 cents a share on revenue of $877 million. Comparable sales rose 5.3% in the quarter at its original locations but were down 14.6% at Jos. A. Bank stores.
Also of note, Men’s Wearhouse announced it was taking a $90.1 million charge for its apparently failed investment in Jos. A. Bank.
The clothing retailer’s press release noted: “Through the first week of December, the quarter-to-date comparable sales at Jos. A. Bank were down 35.1%.”
Men’s Wearhouse shares were down around 20% in after-hours trading late Wednesday and early Thursday.
Of interest, research firm Stifel has downgraded Men’s Wearhouse from Buy to Hold after the earnings miss.
Statement from Men’s Wearhouse CEO
“When we acquired Joseph Bank, we knew that we needed to correct the promotional model,” CEO Doug Ewert commented. “However, we underestimated the impact to the near- term performance as we began to execute the difficult, but necessary, corrective steps. We remain confident that these steps will restore a long-term, sustainable, profit model and reshape the business for a healthy and growing Jos. A. Bank.”
