Skechers Profit Beats Forecasts

Skechers U.S.A. Inc. said Wednesday that first-quarter profit rose a better-than-expected 19% as the shoemaker boosted sales and reduced costs, and that earnings this year will be higher than forecast. The company’s shares gained 7.2%.

Net income climbed to $20.3 million, or 53 cents a share, from $17.1 million, or 45 cents, a year earlier, the maker of sneakers, platform shoes and roller skates said. Sales rose 7.7% to $244.9 million from $227.5 million.

Sales were helped by products such as Skechers 4 Wheelers roller skates, the advertisements for which sometimes feature singer Britney Spears.

The company has reduced inventory, eliminated jobs, cut advertising and closed its catalog business to lower costs, analysts said.

The Manhattan Beach-based company’s shares rose $1.60 to $23.84 on the New York Stock Exchange. It was their biggest percentage gain since April 3, when Skechers said profit would be at least 25% more than the 34-cent average analyst estimate. That translated into profit of at least 42 cents. Analysts then raised their estimate to 43 cents, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

Profit this year will be $1.69 a share, Skechers said, compared with $1.24 last year. The company was expected to earn $1.59, according to First Call.

Other earnings from California companies:

* Ryland Group Inc. said its first-quarter earnings surged 61%, easily topping analyst estimates, as historically low mortgage rates fueled strong demand for new homes and boosted home prices.

Investors welcomed the news, bidding up shares of the Calabasas-based homebuilder 41 cents to close at an at least 10-year high of $108.31 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The stock has risen about 50% this year, outperforming the Standard & Poor’s home building index, which has risen 15%.

The company also declared a two-for-one stock split.

Ryland posted net income of $26 million, or $1.83 per share, compared with $16.1 million, or $1.12 a share, a year earlier.

Analysts’ estimates had ranged from $1.10 to $1.30 a share, with a mean of $1.16 a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

Home building revenue climbed 4.6% to $525.9 million.

Closings on the sales of homes rose 5% in the first quarter and the average price rose 1.5% to $208,000.

Home building revenue for first quarter 2002 included $4.5 million from land sales, which contributed a net gain of $1 million to pretax earnings.

New orders fell about 5% to 3,757 in the quarter, although new orders in March increased by 2.8%, Ryland said.

Its backlog at the end of the quarter was up 1.3% from a year ago, with 5,833 outstanding contracts at March 31. The dollar value of the company’s backlog at March 31 was $1.2 billion, about the same as a year ago.

The company said it expects earnings for the full year of $10.25 a share, up 75 cents from its previous view.

Shareholders of the company’s common stock as of the close of business May 15 will be entitled to one additional share for each share held at that time.

The new shares will be distributed May 30.

* 21st Century Insurance Group reported first-quarter net of $8.3 million, or 10 cents per share, versus net income of $4.9 million, or 6 cents per share, for the year-ago quarter.

In the first quarter of 2002, the Woodland Hills-based insurer said it executed various transactions to exit from its homeowner line, resulting in a one-time after-tax charge of $3.7 million. It also said it incurred legal defense costs in connection with a California Senate bill, resulting in an after-tax charge of $900,000.

Operating income totaled $11.8 million, or 14 cents a share, versus $7.9 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

* IndyMac Bancorp Inc. reported a 44% increase in quarterly profit as its mortgage business increased market share.

The Pasadena-based lender posted earnings of $36 million, or 58 cents a share, compared with $25 million, or 39 cents, in the year-earlier quarter. The year-earlier results excluded a $10.2-million loss due to accounting changes, IndyMac said.

Analysts expected the company to earn 58 cents a share in the first quarter, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

* Chiron Corp., one of the world’s largest biotech companies, said it had an $18.9-million loss in the first quarter because of acquisition costs and declining sales of vaccines. The Emeryville-based company had a loss of 10 cents a share, contrasted with net income of $44.7 million, or 23 cents, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $252.2 million from $259.6 million.

* United PanAm Financial Corp., a Newport Beach financial services company, reported net income of $2.7 million, or 15 cents a share, for the first quarter, nearly double the $1.5 million, or 10 cents, in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 10% to $16.1 million.

* Standard Pacific Corp. in Irvine, one of the nation’s largest home builders, posted first-quarter net income of $17.8 million, or 59 cents a share, a 35% drop from $27.2 million, or 88 cents a share, earned in last year’s first three months. Quarter revenue was essentially flat at $285.9 million.

* Edwards Lifesciences Corp. in Irvine, which makes products to treat cardiovascular disease, reported first-quarter net income of $20.8 million, or 34 cents a share, compared with $14.2 million, or 24 cents a share, for the same quarter last year. Sales fell 15% to $162.3 million.

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Bloomberg News was used in compiling this report.