On September 19, 2006, after the closing bell, Christopher & Banks (NYSE:CBK) released its second-quarter earnings for the period ended August 26, 2006.

  • Margins improved across the board, but it was nice to see a small gross margin increase get big as it moved down the income statement.
  • Both sales and stores grew faster than inventory, a sign that operations are working well and the company carries things customers want to buy.
  • I would have loved to see how this good working capital management affected cash flows, but I guess I'll have to wait for the 10-Q. Bummer!

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

Avg. Est.

Q2 2007

Q2 2006

Change

Sales

$129

$131.6

$110.8

18.8%

Net Profit

--

$7.9

$5.7

38.8%

EPS

$0.20

$0.21

$0.16

31.3%

Diluted Shares

38

36.2

4.9%



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

Margin Checkup

Q2 2007

Q2 2006

Change*

Gross Margin

40.1%

39.7%

0.39

Operating Margin

8.8%

8%

0.86

Net Margin

6%

5.1%

0.87

*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.

$126.7

$62.7

101.9%

Other Current Assets

$17.5

$12.1

44.6%

Inventory

$44.4

$40.6

9.5%



Liabilities

Q2 2007

Q2 2006

Change

Accounts Payable

$10.8

$8.7

23.7%

Long-Term Debt

$0

$0

N/A



Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights

It's a fashion faux-pas to not include a cash flow statement in the earnings release. For shame.

Find out why Fools always follow the money.

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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.

At the time of publication, David Meier did not own shares in any of the companies mentioned. Fool rules for disclosure are here.