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 Elizabeth Arden, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDEN) sank 16% today after its quarterly results disappointed Wall Street.
So what: The stock has pulled back sharply over the past year on concerns over sluggish sales, and today's Q3 results -- loss widened to $0.84 per share on a revenue plunge of 20% -- only reinforce that worrisome trend. In fact, Elizabeth Arden confirmed that it hired Goldman Sachs to explore its strategic alternatives, suggesting that a sale of the company is becoming increasingly likely.
Now what: Don't expect Elizabeth Arden's fundamentals to turn around anytime soon. "While we are encouraged by recent retail sales performance in our North American mass fragrance business, we must position the Company for success in an economic environment that remains challenging," said Chairman and CEO E. Scott Beattie. "We are taking corrective action to improve the performance of the business, focusing on tightening distribution, improving gross margins and restoring profitability and return on invested capital to levels consistent with historical results." When you couple the gale-force competitive headwinds facing Elizabeth with its still-hefty debt load, however, I wouldn't be so quick to bet on it.
