Sneaker Maker Vans Inc. Says It Expects Another 3rd-Quarter Loss

Vans Inc., which makes fashionable canvas sneakers, said Tuesday it would have another losing third quarter this year.

The company said it expects what it called a “modest” loss--probably between 3 cents and 9 cents a share--for the quarter, which ends Monday.

That would be an improvement over the same quarter last year, however, when the company lost $2.4 million, equal to 25 cents a share, on sales of $18 million.

The company also said that its board had adopted a “poison pill” strategy to prevent hostile takeovers, although a spokesman said the company isn’t in imminent danger of a takeover.

The stock, however, is trading at what Vans said it believes to be a relatively low price. Before the company released its announcement late Tuesday afternoon, the stock closed unchanged at $5.875 on Nasdaq. The poison pill, Vans said, is merely a precaution.

“Vans is in the process of changing itself around,” said Dale Appell, a vice president at Torrey Pines Securities, a San Diego brokerage, “and there could be significantly higher earnings in its future.

“At the levels the stock is trading at, it appears quite inexpensive.”

The poison pill calls for the company to issue new stock to shareholders at a discount if a hostile bidder acquires 15% of Vans. That would make it prohibitively expensive to buy the rest of the company.

Vans also said that the Teamsters had asked the National Labor Relations Board for a union election at the company’s plant in Orange. The union said it estimates that there are 1,500 workers eligible to vote in the election. The company on Tuesday said that estimate was high.

“We do not believe that a union is in the best interests of our employees or the company,” said Walter E. Schoenfeld, president and chief executive. “We intend to mount a vigorous campaign against it.”