Quiksilver Drops 5% After Q4 Earnings Miss

is down more than five percent in after hours trading after the company announced its fourth quarter results. The company reported a Q4 EPS of $(0.04) versus the Street estimate of $0.05. Earnings per share were down 157 percent from the year-ago period. Revenue arrived at $475.9 million versus the Street estimate of $519.4 million. Sales were down 15 percent year-over-year. "We made solid progress on key elements of our Profit Improvement Plan over the last few months," Andy Mooney, President and Chief Executive Officer of Quiksilver, Inc., said in a

. "During the fourth quarter, we continued right-sizing our global operations, closing underperforming retail stores, trimming our global athlete roster, divesting non-core operations and making important headway in establishing global controls in the supply chain management processes. In November, we acquired full ownership of our high-growth operations in Brazil and Mexico and entered into our first substantial licensing agreement." Mooney went on to say that he is pleased that his company's cost reduction efforts generated an increase of "$3 million and $7 million in pro forma adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter and second half of fiscal 2013, respectively, versus the comparable prior year periods." "While net revenues were lower due to the expected decrease in DC brand sales, we generated higher gross margin and drove down selling, general and administrative expenses," he concluded. Despite today's earnings miss and accompanying share reduction, Quiksilver has performed very well this year. As of Wednesday, December 11, the stock was up nearly 72 percent year-to-date. Disclosure: