By PAT MAIO
Shares of Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc. slumped about 30% Friday after the company said it was seeing fewer orders from its top customer and a general slowdown on the retail front.
Apparel maker Volcom on Thursday reported second-quarter sales of $46 million, up 28% from a year earlier and in line with Wall Street estimates. The company’s net income of $6.5 million was higher than analysts’ expectations.
But the outlook for the third quarter spooked Wall Street. Wachovia Capital Markets LLC downgraded its outlook on Volcom to “market perform” from “outperform.”
Management blamed a projected slowdown in the third quarter on a drop in orders to Volcom’s biggest customer, Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., and a more conservative outlook from small surfwear shops, according to a Wachovia research report.
Wachovia expects Volcom to post sales of $58 million in the third quarter and net income of $9.2 million.
Shares of Volcom, which makes surf, skate and ski gear, were trading at $20.31 on Friday, off from a 52-week high of $41.40.
Volcom went public at $19 a share a little more than a year ago.
