Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Payless ShoeSource operator Collective Brands (NYSE: PSS) were getting kicked around by investors today, losing as much as 16% in intraday trading on heavy volume.

So what: After the market close yesterday, Collective announced first-quarter results, and investors did not like what they saw. For the quarter, the company reported $0.42 in earnings per share on $869 million in sales. Per-share profit was down 49% from last year, while a 7.4% drop in comparable-store sales helped drag down total revenue by 1%. Analysts were looking for $0.82 in EPS on $915 million in revenue.

Now what: The company blamed the economy and bad weather for the lousy results -- explanations that aren't terribly comforting for investors. However, CEO Matthew Rubel said that the second quarter has been looking brighter. The company also projected that momentum for its Performance + Lifestyle Group would continue with 20% year-over-year sales growth in the upcoming quarter.

Collective's stock looks cheap on the basis of forward and trailing earnings, but with relatively lackluster performance from the company, it seems tough to get too excited about this as an investment.

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