Uncertainties in the global economy helped fuel a worse-than-expected result for Skechers when the footwear company reported its second-quarter financial results Thursday.
Skechers earnings for the quarter totaled 48 cents a share, lower than the 53 cents analysts had hoped for. Sales also missed the mark, with the $877.8 million in revenue reported well below the analyst estimate of $890.6 million. Domestic wholesale sales were down 5.4 percent, with “significantly reduced shipments in April,” the company said in its report.
Skechers CEO Robert Greenberg blamed economic and political uncertainty in the U.S. and abroad, as well as a challenging domestic retail environment, for the company missing its targets.
The company is now banking on back-to-school and its international business for a boost. Greenberg said, “Together with our international partners, we opened a net 133 Skechers stores in the second quarter, bringing the total number of Skechers retail stores to 1,548, of which 1,144 are outside the United States. We expect to have more than 1,600 Skechers stores by year-end, including our first retail stores in Uruguay, Paraguay, Botswana and Sri Lanka, as well as the opening next month of our store at One World Trade Center in New York.”