Why Skechers' Shares Popped

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 shoe specialist Skechers (NYSE: SKX  ) ran up today, gaining as much as 12% before closing with a 4% gain.

So what: We can't really say that Skechers' results for the second quarter look good but, hey, when a company is struggling, investors need to take what they can get. For the quarter, sales slipped 11% from last year to $384 million, while the company lost $0.04 per share. While that may sound like a lousy quarter, the per-share loss was much smaller than the $0.62 loss last year, and also better than the $0.07 per share loss that analysts had expected. Revenue, likewise, topped Wall Street's views, as the average analyst estimate called for just $373 million in sales.

Now what: What do you do when you fall off a horse? If you're Skechers, you dust yourself off, and hop right back on. The company took a significant lump when its toner shoes -- like the Shape-Ups pushed by Kim Kardashian -- ended up costing the company a bunch of money and generally made it look silly. It's quickly putting that experience in its past, though, and is trying to grab new hot-at-the-moment slices of the market. Notably, it introduced the performance GOrun line -- low-profile, minimalist running shoes that have received good reviews and were a bright spot in the second quarter.

Of course, while the Shape-Ups may not be the centerpiece of Skechers anymore, shaping up its financial results still has a ways to go.