Parlux Fragrances' stock tumbled more than 40 percent Friday after the troubled Florida perfume distributor said lower sales to department stores would sharply reduce its quarterly results.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it would probably earn 4 or 5 cents a share, compared to 18 cents a share during the same period a year earlier. Stock watchers had expected the company to earn more than four times as much, according to Ernie Andberg, an analyst at Feltl Co. in Minnesota.
Joe Pappo, a portfolio manager at Chicago firm Lotsoff Capital Management, which reported Friday it owned about 11.5 percent of Parlux, said Parlux generated its revenue in a "difficult space.''
Analysts said one problem was that the company had not been forthcoming about the news. Paul Kaump, an analyst at Northland Securities in Minneapolis, said it was ''really bizarre'' Parlux did not issue a press release Friday.
In an interview, Lekach said he would not comment because Parlux would make a number of ''positive'' announcements next week, starting on Monday.
Andberg of Feltl Co. said analysts had been told in early June the company's Perry Ellis line of perfumes had not turned around and its new Paris Hilton handbags, perfume line and watches would not have a significant impact on earnings.
Indeed, the sole online retailer that seemed to be carrying the Paris Hilton items, Gainesville-based Abazias.com, said only this week had it started to sell a new collection of the watches priced between $138 and $230 .
The site's publicist, Rebecca Kollaras, said the company had been selling a line of diamond-encrusted Hilton watches, which cost at least $100,000, since December. To her knowledge, Abazias.com has not sold a single one
. Additional reporting by '
