Genesco Braces For Earnings (GCO, FINL)

Thursday morning we’ll get to see earnings out of Genesco Inc. (NYSE: GCO). The estimates for the footwear company from First Call are $1.01 EPS on $485.82 million in revenues.  Next quarter estimates are $0.21 EPS on $356.77 million in revenues. Estimates for fiscal Jan-2009 are $1.93 EPS on $1.61 billion in revenues.

What is interesting about this report is that this is the first earnings since it let Finish Line (NASDAQ: FINL) off the hook.  It did receive a large sum and even a chunk of Finish Line stock as part of the settlement, although that won’t likely be reflected for another quarter or so.  Shares were hit hard over this, but frankly it’s better off being on its own rather than under Finish Line.

Frankly, it’s hard to imagine that any trader will be expecting much at all since the company was so distracted.  That also means that anything that looks decent or actually good would run up shares.  This had 3.47 million shares in the short interest, which is about 9-days to cover and would allow this to act as a catapult for shares if the report is well received.

Analysts have an average price target of about $29.00. Genesco’s 52-week trading range is $19.36 to $54.15, and it saw a low of $19.38 today before closing at $19.79.  This will be one to watch because its stock has been battered and beaten so much over the failed merger.

Jon C. Ogg
March 12, 2008