On Dec. 6, 2006, teen retailers dELiA*s (NASDAQ:DLIA) released its third-quarter earnings for the period ended Oct. 28.

  • Sales saw a nice increase of about 12% for the quarter.
  • But improved margins caused earnings to power ahead 83%. Of course, it was starting from a small base, but improvement is improvement.
  • 31 of 34 people in our new community intelligence service, CAPS, think deLia*s will outperform the S&P 500. What do you think? Bring it to CAPS!

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

Q3 2006

Q3 2005

Change

Sales

$67.5

$60.3

11.9%

Net Profit

$3.3

$1.7

94.1%

EPS

$0.11

$0.06

83.3%

Diluted Shares

31.0

27.7

11.9%



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

Margin Checkup

Q3 2006

Q3 2005

Change*

Gross Margin

41.7%

40.5%

1.2

Operating Margin

5.3%

3.2%

2.2

Net Margin

4.8%

2.8%

2.0

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets

Q3 2006

Q3 2005

Change

Cash + ST Invest.

$18.4

$3.0

513.3%

Accounts Rec.

$0.0

$0.0

N/A

Inventory

$42.5

$34.0

25%



Liabilities

Q3 2006

Q3 2005

Change

Accounts Payable

$18.7

$18.5

1.1%

Long-Term Debt*

$2.4

$2.6

(7.7%)

*Long-term mortgage note

Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights

The cash flow statement is probably stuck in a teenager's closet somewhere.

Find out why Fools always follow the money.

Related Companies:

  • Aeropostale (NYSE:ARO)
  • Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF)
  • Claire's (NYSE:CLE)

Related Foolishness:

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 .