Sharper Image's Stellar Q1

Back in the bad, old days, Sharper Image (Nasdaq: SHRP  ) , like peer Brookstone (Nasdaq: BKST  ) , walked through a desert nine months of the year, losing money on its way to the holiday-quarter Promised Land. But more recently, the firm -- which was once parodied as the "Wicked Excess" on The Simpsons -- has been running in the black year-round.

The latest quarter was as slick and impressive as its wireless shower television. Revenues jumped 34% to $156.4 million. Comps were up a healthy 8%, pushing store sales to a 26% improvement. The real fireworks came with the 40% rise in catalog sales and near 60% climb in Internet sales. The best part? Revenue growth outran the increases in costs and administration, meaning that the bottom line was visited by a bigger proportion of the ballooning sales.

That explains the 160% growth in earnings, topping out at $0.13 per share. This is a performance that outshines even Brookstone's recent success. As my colleagues have pointed out here and here, this is becoming a habit for Sharper Image. It's tempting to attribute the success to last quarter's decent consumer-spending climate, but peruse the Fool pages and you'll find out that last quarter was no gimme for retailers.

There are plenty who aren't making the grade, and Sharper Image has been absent from that group for quite a while. At the same time, the stock has lost nearly a third of its value since February. At around $27 per share today, the stock carries a P/E of 16. Given recent performance, management's predictions of doubling year-over-year earnings for the second quarter and its conservative guidance of 22% growth for the full year makes this high-end retailer look like a bargain.

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Fool contributor Seth Jayson is startled to notice that he really needs the Turbo-Groomer 5.0. He may soon own the Sharper Image's finest nose-hair trimmer, but he has no stake in any company mentioned. View his Fool profile here.