Volcom Wipes Out ... Again

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Volcom (Nasdaq: VLCM) hit the skids after it reported second-quarter earnings last week. Those who plumb the depths of their longish-term memory might recall that Volcom also got slammed this time last year -- which turned out to be a great opportunity to buy.

Granted, second-quarter earnings at Volcom did decrease. Net income fell 5% to $6.2 million, or $0.25 per share. The operating margin and net margin fell as SG&A costs increased substantially. The company continues to invest in infrastructure in Europe. On the bright side, Volcom's revenues increased by an impressive 25% to $57.7 million.

Volcom has been quite a successful pick for Motley Fool Hidden Gems. Tom Gardner rerecommended the company after its wipeout last summer. Investor sentiment soured because the struggles of one of its retail distributors, Pacific Sunwear (Nasdaq: PSUN), caused a lot of angst about the short term, despite the fact that Volcom also distributes its apparel through other venues, such as hot retailer Zumiez (Nasdaq: ZUMZ), department stores like Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), and even a few of its own retail stores, which it is cautiously opening. Even with Volcom's price cut last week, it's up 84% since Tom's rerecommendation.

On our Motley Fool Hidden Gems discussion board for Volcom, Fools pointed out that last week's stock plunge is not only eerily similar to last year's, but occurred in the second quarter as well. Indeed, it's worthwhile to note that despite this speed bump, Volcom reaffirmed its guidance for a 34% to 36% increase in revenue for fiscal 2007, as well as EPS guidance of $1.47 to $1.50 per share. So in a way, the stock taking this much of a beating seems to ignore the fact that there doesn't seem to be a long-term problem at hand, and if anything, bringing its European business into its own hands should be a long-term boon to the company.

Given expectations for impressive growth from Volcom, the fact that the stock trades at 19 times forward earnings doesn't sound unreasonable. (Volcom is expected to increase earnings by 30% in fiscal 2008.) I wouldn't disagree with investors who think Volcom's recent fallen stock price may very well be a replay of last year's summer wipeout -- a temporary situation that may very well provide a great opportunity for investors to buy into an impressive long-term growth story.

Grab your board and surf some Foolish articles on Volcom:

• I took a look at a recent Wall Street conference featuring Volcom, which gave investors a lot of good background information on what makes Volcom special.
• Last winter, I nominated Volcom as the Best Small Cap for 2007.
• Revisit last summer, when Volcom got slammed.

Volcom and Zumiez are Motley Fool Hidden Gems recommendations. Pacific Sunwear is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick.

Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.