The Honeymoon Is Over for Zale: Fool by Numbers

• Email
• Share
• Print

On Feb. 21, specialty retailer Zale (NYSE: ZLC) released second-quarter earnings for the period ended Jan. 31.

• Quarterly revenue rose 2.6% from the same quarter last year to $1.004 billion.
• Same-store sales grew 1.4%, the first comparable sales growth in three years.
• The company expects earnings per share of $1.46 to $1.52 for the 2007 fiscal year.
• The underperformers outnumber the outperformers by a 2-to-1 margin in our free Motley Fool CAPS service.

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Q2 2007	Q2 2006	Change
Sales	$1,004.5	$993.7	1.1%
Net Profit	$88.1	$87.8	0.3%
EPS	$1.80	$1.78	1.1%
Diluted Shares	49.0	49.3	(0.7%)

Get back to basics with a look at the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	Q2 2007	Q2 2006	Change*
Gross Margin	50.7%	50.2%	0.5
Operating Margin	14.6%	12.6%	2.0
Net Margin	8.8%	8.8%	(0.1)

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q2 2007	Q2 2006	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$32.3	$37.5	(13.8%)
Inventory	$1,118.2	$957.4	16.8%

Liabilities	Q2 2007	Q2 2006	Change
Accounts Payable*	$408.2	$449.3	(9.2%)
Long-Term Debt	$232.7	$120.0	93.9%

*Includes accrued liabilities.

Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights

Data not available.

Find out why Fools always follow the money.

Related Companies:

• Blue Nile (Nasdaq: NILE)
• Signet (NYSE: SIG)
• Finlay (Nasdaq: FNLY)
• Tiffany (NYSE: TIF)

Related Foolishness:

• Is Zale Commitment-Worthy?
• Nanotech Is a Girl's Best Friend
• You Can Look, but You Can't Touch

Blue Nile is both a Hidden Gems and Rule Breakers recommendation.

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.