Zumiez

My favorite part of a Zumiez’s conference call is when CEO Rick Brooks apparently decides the analyst has asked the wrong question or doesn’t quite understand the implications of what’s been asked.  Two plus pages of transcript later, sometimes ably supported by CFO Chris Work, we may have forgotten the original question, but we’ve always […]

Zumiez increased revenues and profits in their October 29 quarter compared to the same quarter last year.  The more interesting strategic question is how (if a single quarter is indicative of longer terms trends) and I’d like to highlight three factors that I see working together, though they are typically discussed separately.

During the quarter, Zumiez increased its sales and reduced its loss compared to the same quarter last year.  It continued to follow its strategy and its balance sheet remains solid- perhaps a bit stronger than a year ago. I’ve generally been a supporter of Zumiez’s strategy.  It’s not that they necessarily know any better than

The conference calls get shorter and shorter as Wall Street and its analysts decide the retail sector just isn’t worth their attention.  I don’t and won’t invest in anything I write about but damn, this feels like one piece of putting in a bottom in the retail sector.  Maybe it will take the recession to

Zumiez has been telling us for some time now, correctly I think, that they are approaching the number of Zumiez stores the U.S. market can support.  They ended their January 31 year with 603 U.S. stores.  No doubt they will continue to selectively open (and close) stores and there is certainly no exact number of

I’m always grateful when a company has a short 10K and conference call.  I’m efficient at spotting the meat in a 10K, but it’s easier when it’s 77 pages, as Zumiez’s was, instead of 177 pages.  Though when it’s 177 pages, there’s usually some really interesting stuff. Zumiez doesn’t need more than 77 pages.  They

Zumiez’s 10-Q for its quarter ended October 31 reported an increase in sales and profits.  I used the word “Too” in the article title because it sounds a bit like the Tilly’s results I reported a few days ago. Zumiez, like Tilly’s, would like to point to all the good things it’s doing as being

Zumiez is one of the public companies I follow that I hold up as doing most things right, but that doesn’t make them invulnerable to a tough economic environment. Revenues for the quarter ended July 30 were down 0.86% from the same quarter ended last year on August 1.  They declined from $179.8 to $178.3

I’ve generally been a supporter of Zumiez’s strategy and believe they’ve done most things right.  So when I see them suffering right along with everybody else in a difficult (not nearly a strong enough word) retail environment, it really brings home to me just what we’re dealing with. The numbers first, then the strategic issues.

Like most industry retailers, Zumiez has been impacted by a slow growth economy, reduced and redirected spending on the part of its primary customer group, and the internet’s ability to make consumers powerful, product differentiation harder, and the brand cycle shorter.  There’s no news there and nothing unique as far as its impact on Zumiez