News Item: Pacific Sunwear
On Wednesday, shares of mall based specialty retailer Pacific Sunwear (PSUN), the company that operates PacSun stores, fell sharply on news that sales for the quarter were about $2.5 million less than analysts had expected. The earnings per share number matched analyst estimates.
Pacific Sunwear’s same store sales fell by 3.1% in February. Analysts expected a rise of 1.4% in same store sales. Generally speaking, teen retailers reported poorer same store sales in February than Wall Street had expected. Of course, Pacific Sunwear did not simply fail to grow same store sales as quickly as expected; the company actually saw same store sales decline for the month.
Pacific Sunwear now trades at about fourteen times earnings. The company has long been the one teen retailer I would like to own – at the right price. At today’s price, PSUN is the best bargain among well known American retailers. Expect a more detailed discussion of the company within the next few days.
Note: When discussing Pacific Sunwear (PSUN), all uses of the term “Pacific Sunwear” will be references to the company; all uses of the term “PacSun” will be references to the skate and surf themed chain. This practice is intended to avoid confusion as to whether a particular statement applies to the PacSun chain alone or to the PacSun, d.e.m.o., (and soon) One Thousand Steps chains collectively.