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Strategies & Market Trends : Can you beat 50% per month? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Smiling Bob who wrote (10163)	6/8/2006 5:42:49 PM
From: Smiling Bob	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19256

SHRP = might be following the FAOO path siliconinvestor.com Sharper Image 1Q Loss Widens to $12.6M Thursday June 8, 4:50 pm ET By Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writer Sharper Image First-Quarter Loss Nearly Triples to $12.6M, Sales Fall 29 Percent for Same Period SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Sharper Image Corp.'s losses nearly tripled during the first quarter, further underscoring the challenges facing the gadget retailer as it tries to win back estranged shoppers. The San Francisco-based company said Thursday it lost $12.6 million, or 84 cents per share, during the three months ending in April. That compared with a loss of $4.6 million, or 30 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Sales for the period totaled $106.8 million, a 26 percent decline from $144.9 million last year. In an even more telling sign of Sharper Image's distress, sales at stores open at least a year fell 29 percent for the quarter. To make matters worse, the comparable-store sales sagged even more during May, drooping by 36 percent compared with the same month last year. The latest quarterly loss, announced after the stock market closed, was worse than the average estimate of 76 cents per share among analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. The company's shares dropped 26 cents to close at $12.16 on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. Sharper Image Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Thalheimer, who founded the company 29 years ago, has promised a rebound later this year as dozens of new products show up at the 191-store chain. The CEO reiterated the pledge Thursday. "Our customers will see a real change when they walk in to our stores, and my expectation is that this will slowly but steadily improve our sales and operating trends in the second half of the year." Thalheimer said. The Knightspoint Group, Sharper Image's third largest shareholder with a 12.8 percent stake, provided Thalheimer with a vote of confidence last month when it agreed to back off a threatened mutiny in exchange for three seats on the company's board of directors. The truce required Thalheimer, Sharper Image's largest shareholder with a 21 percent stake, to drop his 80-year-old father Alan and the company's chief operating officer, Tracy Wan, from the board. The shake up hasn't impressed investors. Sharper Image's stock price has dropped 19 percent since Thalheimer and Knightspoint Group agreed to work together on the attempted turnaround. Sharper Image's woes have highlighted its dependency on an air purifying system that has declined in popularity since Consumer Reports magazine derided the product as ineffective in articles published in 2002 and 2003. The company unsuccessfully sued the magazine for libel. With its sales eroding so badly, Sharper Image has had to cut costs by laying off workers, curtailing new store openings and clamping down on advertising. The austerity program prompted Thalheimer to cut his salary in half to $495,000. As part of its turnaround efforts, Sharper Image has introduced 45 new products leading up to Father's Day -- traditionally one of the chain's busiest periods. But Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Joan Storm doesn't expect to see an immediate payoff, predicting Sharper Image's same-store sales this month will drop by at least 20 percent compared with a year ago. "It's a strong brand, but you just can't get back shoppers overnight," Storm said.