West Marine, Inc. lowers fiscal guidance
Specialty retailer of boating supplies West Marine, Inc. (Nasdaq: WMAR) lowered sales and earnings guidance Tuesday.
The California-based company announced today that it is revising its full year 2007 earnings guidance to be in the range of $0.24 to $0.34 per share, compared with previously issued guidance in the range of $0.45 to $0.55 per share. West Marine further states that comparable store sales for the year are now estimated to decrease between 1.5% and 2.5%. Sales for fiscal year 2007 are expected to be approximately $683 million to $688 million.
“As we move through the peak season, boating activity throughout the country has not shown signs of recovery, and revenues have been disappointing,” said West Marine’s CEO Peter Harris.
West Marine is encountering softness in the southeast; especially in Florida, which is a key boating market for the company. The company said that sales of higher-priced discretionary items, such as electronics, have been weak, and in-store traffic levels, which are reflective of boat usage, have been lower than expected.
In an earnings call in April the company said that a continued weakness in the broader marine industry would impact future sales generation. Since that call, company officials said that there have not been improvements in revenue that would be needed to meet this year’s previously expected results.
“We are continuing our focus on store execution, one customer at a time, to maximize sales and pursue market share, even in this challenging environment, so that when the anticipated cyclical improvement takes place and boating activity grows again West Marine emerges as an even stronger leader, as the first choice for the customer,” Harris said.
Shares of West Marine traded down 2.9% or $0.40 to $13.19 in late day trading Tuesday.
