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 Lifetime Brands Inc (LCUT 0.60%) were selling off today, falling as much as 23% after its first-quarter earnings report missed the mark.
So what: The kitchenware maker saw sales improve 20%, to $118.4 million, but that was short of expectations at $121.8 million. On the bottom line, Lifetime's adjusted net loss deepened from $0.05 per share a year ago to $0.13, worse than analyst estimates of breakeven. Despite the loss, CEO Jeffrey Siegel said he was "very pleased" with the results in the quarter, as the company worked to integrate four acquisitions, which he said was the reason for the loss due to added SG&A expenses.
Now what: Even though its net loss worsened during the quarter, EBITDA improved by 18.9%, and gross margin ticked up 50 basis points, indicating the unit economics are improving despite the appearance otherwise. Siegel also said he expected bottom-line results to improve in the second half of the year, as sales are typically stronger then, and Lifetime maintained its full-year sales guidance of $600 million on 5% organic growth and 15% growth from acquisitions. Though the company is getting punished due to the added acquisition costs, I'd tend to see the expansion effort as a positive, and with guidance still on track, today's drop could be a good buying opportunity.
