The tough times continue for Wet Seal
This is more bad news for a company that is trying to turn things around. Just two weeks ago, Wet Seal management was standing by its projected loss of $0.54 to $0.59 per share, and the company maintains that the first-quarter results are in line with its expectations (and it did narrowly beat those projections when the Zutopia losses are excluded).
Wet Seal continues to emphasize that positive momentum will begin in the third quarter when its overhauled marketing campaign is launched. Now, I've never run a company, but doesn't this transition seem to be taking a pretty long time? J.C. Penney
Wet Seal was also unable to continue making strides toward better managing its inventory levels, which increased 28.4%. Same-store sales also disappointed, falling 17.2%, which is particularly disappointing considering they had already fallen 25.6% last year. Gross margins also plummeted from 20.9% to 14.1%.
The pivotal third quarter is rapidly approaching, and there can be no more excuses after that. But, in such a highly competitive market -- with bebe stores
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Fool contributor Mike Cianciolo welcomes feedback and doesn't own any of the companies in this article.