Callaway Golf Company said its first quarter revenues will likely fall more than 17.5% for the period, a decline the company said was at least partially expected as they staggered new product launches more evenly this year and carefully managed the amount of inventory shipped into the marketplace during the first quarter. Well, this unique approach certainly worked as sales fell to roughly $300 million in Q1 versus nearly $364 million in the year-ago period.
ELY chairman and CEO William Baker said the actions to curtail sales “were taken to assure that every product launch was fully supported and to avoid the build-up of inventory at retail that was experienced last year. Both initiatives should promote sell-through of new and existing product.”
The carefully managed approach to cutting sales will also undoubtedly have a profound affect on earnings. The company is estimating that diluted EPS for the quarter ended March 31 will come in between 26 cents and 28 cents, or 29 cents to 31 cents when excluding Top-Flite integration charges for the period, versus diluted EPS of 64 cents in the year-ago period, net of charges. Analysts were looking for 49 cents per share on revenue of $339.3 million.
>>> Another approach might be to sell more in other quarters to even out the year
>>> Many would agree that the problem last year wasnt too much product; it was too much of the WRONG product
