Magic 25
Jan 07, 2000
Sales Soar At Claire's
Senior Analyst: Adam Lowensteiner (1/7/00)
Claire's Stores (NYSE:CLE - news) announced phenomenal sales figures for the month of December, hinting to investors that fourth quarter figures should be pretty solid.
Specifically, total sales for the company rose by 47% to $188.8 million. Same store sales grew 5% during the month, ahead of our 4% estimate. The company points to strong sales both domestically and internationally for the good results.
Claire's still has another month to go until it closes its fiscal year, but it is surely on the right path for a turn around.
Shares are still attractive, even with investors grabbing stock in light of the sales news. To date Claire's has $792 million in revenue, and is very close to our year estimate of $815 million.
We are pretty confident that the company will surpass that figure, do to recent acquisitions, as well as the winter months being a fairly good time to find 'mallrats.'
We are leaving our $830 million revenue estimate the same. We want to maintain our present margin analysis, and see if the margins need expanding when earnings are released in February. For now, we believe shares are cheap, and have plenty room to rise, at least until the stock gets to our price target of $30 a share.
Analyst: Adam Lowensteiner
Updated on 1/7/00 with CLE at $22.69
Recommended 12/11/99 at $21.19
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