RadioShack (RSHCQ) reported results for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2015 this morning, falling far short of analyst targets across the board. Shares plunged as much as 22% lower in pre-market trading.
Wall Street was looking for a $0.52 net loss per share and $767 million in net sales. RadioShack reported an adjusted $0.98 loss per share, and sales stopped at $737 million. On a year-over-year basis, sales fell 13% while losses per share nearly quadrupled. Comparable-store sales declined by 14%.
Source: RadioShack.
To explain the tough results, RadioShack pointed to declining in-store foot traffic and "aggressive" price battles in the market for mobile devices.
This is the first report under RadioShack's new fiscal year calendar. The company has moved away from a simple calendar year, moving the end of the fiscal year up to the end of January. Management calls this a "traditional 52-week retail calendar," in use by "the majority of retailers today."
In the "stub period", from Jan. 1 to Feb. 1, RadioShack saw sales falling 13% from the comparable one-month period of 2013. Net losses increased by 34%.
"Our mobility business was weak due to lackluster consumer interest in the current handset assortment and increased promotional activities across the industry including the wireless carriers," said RadioShack CEO Joseph Magnacca in a prepared statement.
"Even in this environment, we are making progress on our turnaround strategy," Magnacca continued. "Our concept stores continue to drive strong sales growth, and we have begun to execute our 100-store remodel program to scale the successful components of our concept stores across our network."
The company closed 22 stores in the first quarter and expects to shutter another 200 locations by the end of the year. RadioShack operates 4,250 stores in America these days, alongside 258 Mexican locations and 912 assorted outlets worldwide.
