Humble Hastings: Fool by Numbers

On March 26, Hastings Entertainment (Nasdaq: HAST  ) released fourth-quarter earnings for the period ended Jan. 31.

• Declining margins in music, sidelines, and video games dragged down gross margins.
• Asset impairment charges, severance agreement expenses, and high occupancy and store supply costs caused a downfall in the operating margin.
• For more analysis on Hastings' fourth quarter, see Rick Munarriz's Foolish take.

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Sales	$174.2	$171.5	1.6%
Net Profit	$5.1	$7.0	(26.9%)
EPS	$0.45	$0.61	(26.2%)
Diluted Shares	11.3	11.6	(2.1%)

Get back to basics with the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change*
Gross Margin	32.5%	34.4%	(1.9)
Operating Margin	5.4%	7.5%	(2.1)
Net Margin	2.9%	4.1%	(1.1)

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$3.8	$3.6	6.1%
Accounts Rec.	No Data	No Data	No Data
Inventory	$167.3	$165.0	1.4%

Liabilities	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Accounts Payable	$76.5	$89.0	(14.0%)
Long-Term Debt	$41.9	$28.1	49.4%

The balance sheet reflects the company's health.

Cash Flow Highlights

Cash flow data is not available.

Free cash flow is a Fool's best friend.

Related Foolishness:

• It's in the Box, Movie Gallery
• Movie Gallery's Kick in the Can
• Movie Gallery Fades to Red

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean. This data has been provided by Netscribes. To provide feedback on this article, please click on the "feedback" button below.