Express shares fall after Q4 revenue miss

March 24, 2023 at 4:06 PM

Yahoo Finance Live discusses a drop in Express shares after the company's Q4 earnings fell below expectations.

Video Transcript

ALLIE CANAL: Switching gears to my play, that is Express. Shares plummeting today, down about 12%, on the heels of disappointing earnings. The retailer missing on both the top and bottom lines, with net sales falling 14% year over year, while comp sales was down 13%. Guidance also came in under estimate-- rough, I should say, with the company expecting Q1 comp sales of negative low double digits and a loss per share between $0.70 and $0.80, as consumers cut back on discretionary spending against the backdrop of inflation.

Now, remember, Express was a meme stock at one point, but it is now down about 80% on a year-over-year basis, a penny stock. Guys, things just look really rough right now. And I think, if you're a retailer in general, you need to execute on a strategy. And, right now, Express has just not been able to do that.

DAVE BRIGGS: They have a strategy. It's cut expenses. This was brutal. And to hear their CEO talk, "While we expect the recessionary environment we experienced in the back half of the year to continue," recessionary environment is what they say they experienced. And here's their entire plan. We've identified $40 million in annualized expense savings in early '23, additional cuts. That seems to be the entire plan to turn this ship around. Bleak, to say the least.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, it certainly is very, very bleak. And you mentioned that drop that we saw in revenue. Comp sales were also off over 10%. They declined 13% during the quarter.

And I agree, you're going into a-- or you are in-- the company has been in a very, very challenging position. Consumers are not spending more on these types of things, on apparel, at least for right now. So it's going to be an uphill battle here for Express. And I think lots of people are wondering whether or not they're going to be able to execute on this turnaround plan.

DAVE BRIGGS: Not looking good, man.