What Happened?
Shares of clothing and footwear retailer Zumiez (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) jumped 12.5% in the morning session after the company reported strong fourth-quarter 2024 earnings: EBITDA beat analysts' estimates while sales and earnings were in line. The company recorded a 5.9% rise in comparable sales, driven largely by North America, where growth outpaced international markets. Despite this, sales declined modestly relative to the previous year due to an extra week in the prior year's quarter.
Looking ahead, first-quarter-to-date sales were up 1.7%, with North America again leading the charge, while international sales remained a drag. This suggested the company's core market remained strong, but challenges persisted in other segments. Overall, this was a decent quarter.
The shares closed the day at $13.83, up 8.4% from previous close.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
Zumiez’s shares are very volatile and have had 23 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Zumiez and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 6 months ago when the stock gained 15.3% on the news that the company reported strong second-quarter earnings results. Zumiez blew past analysts' EPS expectations, and its revenue outperformed Wall Street's estimates. Although its earnings forecast for next quarter missed analysts' expectations, revenue guidance for next quarter exceeded expectations. Overall, this was a decent quarter (especially as many retailers struggled this quarter), with some key metrics above expectations.
Zumiez is down 27.1% since the beginning of the year, and at $13.82 per share, it is trading 52.5% below its 52-week high of $29.11 from August 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Zumiez’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $743.01.
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