Skechers Kicks

Shares of trendy casual footwear retailer Skechers U.S.A. Inc. rose 20% after the company posted a fourth-quarter profit that breezed by Wall Street’s already bullish estimates and predicted continued gains through 2002. The stock rose $4.46 to close at $26.86 on the New York Stock Exchange. Manhattan Beach-based Skechers said on Wednesday that its fourth-quarter net income more than tripled to $9.7 million, or 26 cents a share, from $2.9 million, or 8 cents, a year ago on higher sales. Analysts surveyed by research firm First Call/Thomson Financial had expected just 16 cents a share. Revenue for the company, which sells its products in more than 100 countries and territories, climbed more than 70% to $172 million from $100.1 million a year earlier. Skechers said it expects to earn $1.65 to $1.70 a share this year, up from $1.20 in 2000, and forecast 20% to 25% earnings-per-share growth in 2002, prompting analysts to bump up estimates.