Guitar Center Singing a Happy Tune
Second-quarter catalog and Internet sales climbed 30% at Guitar Center (Nasdaq: GTRC), while the cataloger/retailer’s total sales for the quarter increased 15%. Net income soared 50%. Comparable-store sales rose 5%.
For the three months ended June 30, the parent company of cataloger Musician’s Friend netted $6.2 million on revenue of $291.6 million. Catalog and Web sales accounted for $60.4 million in sales. For the second quarter of last year, direct sales had totaled $46.5 million. Total revenue had been $253.9 million, and net income was $4.1 million. Increased call center and fulfillment efficiencies, less discounting, and the inclusion of more higher-margin products in the product mix led to improved gross margins in the direct division, to 32.1% from 30.3% a year ago.
Flagging 2Q for Gaiam A decline in sales to retailers led to a 15% drop in second-quarter revenue for Broomfield, CO-based Gaiam (Nasdaq: GAIA). For the three months ended June 30, the manufacturer/marketer of healthy-lifestyle products had net revenue of $20.4 million, compared with $24.1 million for the second quarter of 2002. What’s more, Gaiam lost $760,000 for the quarter, whereas it had posted net income of $1.0 million a year ago.
The company, whose catalogs include SelfCare, Harmony, and Inner Balance, blamed some of its loss on costs associated with doubling its sales force and adding new product categories. It expects third-quarter sales to be about 20% higher than second-quarter sales; it also expects to post a profit in the third quarter.
Web Sales Boost Sportsman’s Guide’s South St. Paul, MN-based The Sportsman’s Guide (Nasdaq: SGDE) more than doubled its second-quarter net income on a 9% rise in sales. For the three months ended June 30, the catalogers of outdoor gear netted $646,000 on sales of $38.0 million. For the second quarter of last year, it had reported earnings of $317,000 on sales of $34.8 million. The company credits increasing Web sales for much of its growth. Internet-related sales accounted for 36.5% of the quarter’s revenue, compared with less than 30% a year ago.