Jones Group Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of fashion expert The Jones Group (NYSE: JNY  ) were down as much as 12% in intraday trading.

So what: It's earnings season and that means companies have to fess up when things haven't been going as well as they had hoped. In Jones Group's case, the fourth-quarter results were bad enough that the company decided to preannounce the numbers. Adjusted earnings per share -- which excludes impairment and restructuring charges -- came in at $0.02 against $0.11 in the fourth quarter of last year and Wall Street expectations of $0.11. That's a style that just doesn't look good on anybody.

Now what: The company blamed the shortfall on squeezed margins in the quarter stemming from a "retail environment [that] was more promotional than anticipated." If Jones Group isn't careful, disappointing investors could become a trend. The company is hoping that price increases and "disciplined execution" can help turn the tide a bit in the coming year and allow it to report better margins in 2011.

If we want to look at the bright side here, full-year 2010 adjusted earnings are still expected to be more than 30% above 2009's results, and the stock's current price-to-earnings ratio of 8.2 makes it look pretty cheap.

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