LIZ CLAIBORNE INC. $6.38 - New York symbol LIZ

LIZ CLAIBORNE INC. $6.38 (New York symbol LIZ; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 94.5 million; Market cap: $602.9 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.2; No dividends paid since December 2008; WSSF Rating: Extra Risk) designs and sells clothing and accessories for men and women. Its top brands include Liz Claiborne, Juicy Couture and Kate Spade. Liz Claiborne continues to cut costs in response to falling sales: Liz Claiborne has closed 10 distribution centres since 2007. It has also sold less-profitable brands and closed stores. As well, the company hopes to spur growth with new licensing deals with J.C. Penney (see page 104) and the QVC TV shopping channel. The transition of the Liz Claiborne brands to J.C. Penney and QVC caused sales in the three months ended July 3, 2010 to fall 15.5%, to $569.8 million from $674.6 million a year earlier. The company lost $0.19 a share in the quarter, a 61.2% improvement over its year-earlier loss of $0.49 a share. Liz Claiborne will probably lose $0.46 a share in 2010. Thanks to the new licensing deals, however, its 2011 earnings should rebound to $0.30 a share. The stock trades at 21.3 times that estimate. That high p/e ratio reflects investor expectations of further earnings improvements. Liz Claiborne is a hold.

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