Tag - Dsw

Ameron International Corp. (Nasdaq:AMN), Portec Rail Products Inc. (Nasdaq:PRPX) and Summit Financial Group Inc. (Nasdaq:SMMF) are among the biggest percentage losers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (Nasdaq:EBS), DSW Inc. (Nasdaq:DSW), Haverty Furniture Co Inc. (Nasdaq:HVT), Robbins & Myers Inc. (Nasdaq:RBN), Alico Inc. (Nasdaq:ALCO) and Rubicon Technology Inc. (Nasdaq:RBCN).

Gidgets and Moondoggies of the world unite: clothing company Volcom Inc. (Nasdaq:VLCM) rode into the active apparel market in the 90s and has been hanging ten ever since, with its stock price recently increasing by 26%.

The company’s line includes t-shirts, fleece, bottoms, tops, jackets, board shorts, denim, outerwear and footwear accessories, but it is more than just a run-of-the-mill clothing company.

Unlike most companies that come about from board rooms full of men in suits, Volcom was conceived by twenty-somethings Richard Woolcott and Tucker Hall on a snowboard trip the two took to Lake Tahoe in March of 1991. With $5,000 borrowed from Woolcott’s father, the two set out to create a clothing company based around their mutual love of three sports: surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding.

Their “youth against establishment” mantra translated to an initially anti-establishment business model. Volcom’s headquarters were first set up in Woolcott’s bedroom in Newport Beach, while sales were run out of Hall’s bedroom in Huntington Beach. Clothing revenues for the first year were $2,600.

Flash forward to 2008 and one can see the “gnarly” wave of growth the company has ridden. Over the years, the company has expanded from not only clothing, but sponsoring athletes, building skateparks, producing films and creating a Volcom record label.

And that paltry $2,600 in sales its very first year? Try $80.6 million today. For the quarter ended March 31, 2008, net income rose to $9.3 million, or $0.38 per share, from $5.5 million, or $0.22 per share in the prior-year quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profits of $0.21 per share. Revenue rose 59% . . .

The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed lower as fears of an economic slowdown came to the forefront. The small-cap index lost 9.72 points, or 1.38%, to 692.39. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) declined 120.40 points, or 0.97%, to 12,302.46.

On a year-to-date basis, the Russell 2000 is down 9.61%, while the Dow has shed 7.26% and the S&P 500 is off 9.71%.

The bears dominated most the session today as investors worried that lackluster economic growth could possibly tip into a recession.

Gross domestic product rose at the previously announced annual pace of 0.6% during the fourth-quarter of 2007, the U.S. Commerce Department announced before the start of trading. That’s in line with economists’ expectations but below the 4.9% growth recorded in the third quarter of 2007.

Many observers, among them Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, forecast that the economy will slow down even more in the first quarter of 2008.

“It’s clear the economy is in a slowdown that resembles past periods that were the leading edge of a recession,” Lockhart told the Rotary Club of Chattanooga, Tenn. after the opening. “Following a sluggish fourth quarter, I expect that GDP for the first quarter of this year will show little, if any, growth.”

Shoppers looking for inexpensive shoes have, in many parts of the country, three good options from which to choose. Shoe Pavilion Inc. (Nasdaq: SHOE), DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW), and Payless Shoesource Inc. (NYSE: PSS) all offer a similar bare-bones store format, featuring aisle after aisle of stacked shoe boxes containing flip flops and tennis shoes, pumps and stilettos, all marked down from the regular retail price.

All of these stores are a bargain shopper’s paradise and many of the shoppers who exit with a bag full of discounted goods probably don’t know the difference between one shoe outlet and the other.

Not so investors. While DSW and Payless Shoesource are both solid businesses with multi-billion dollar valuations, Shoe Pavilion is a struggling small-cap stock, which has lost more than half its market share since the start of the year and is now valued at just over $30 million.

Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based Shoe Pavilion operates 108 stores in the western United States and has long attracted shoppers to its low-priced shoes, handbags and accessories. Revenues in fiscal 2006 grew to $131.3 million, from $102.5 million in 2005 and $85.8 million.

The company’s net income has been somewhat more erratic, partly due to costs associated with its aggressive expansion plans. The company earned $1.9 million last year, down from $2.6 million in 2005 and $2.1 million in 2004.