SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Crocs Inc <CROX.O> posted a deep quarterly net loss on Wednesday, citing higher restructuring costs, shoe inventory write-downs and plunging profit margins, and its shares fell 37 percent.

The maker of colorful plastic shoes said it would "right-size" its operations to better conform with lower sales, which fell 32 percent in the quarter.

Crocs had a net loss of $148.0 million, or $1.79 per share, in its third quarter ended Sept 30, compared with a net profit of $56.5 million, or 66 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

It was not immediately clear whether that was comparable to the 2 cents per share in profit expected, on average, by analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Sales fell 32 percent to $174.2 million, below the $201.7 million expected, on average, by Wall Street.

In August, Niwot, Colorado-based Crocs estimated third-quarter earnings of 1 cent to 5 cents per share on revenue of $195 million to $205 million.

"Based on current trends we have lowered our projected sales volumes and made the strategic decision to further right-size our operations to better align with our lower volumes and revenues," Chief Executive Ron Snyder said in a statement.

Gross profit margins tumbled to 1.4 percent of revenues from 60.6 percent a year earlier.

The company has been trying to scale back its infrastructure to be more in line with its future growth prospects. Its inventories, while declining, have been out of line with sales in recent months.

Launched in 2002, Crocs' quirky, bright and comfortable shoes were an immediate hit, but their novelty has since waned, and the weak U.S. economy has further crimped demand.

News that Crocs can get caught in escalators and cause injuries has also hurt the company, together with the plethora of knock-off shoes in the marketplace, and a recent European Union ruling that a Crocs patent is invalid.

Crocs estimated a fourth-quarter loss of 50 cents to 65 cents a share on revenue of $100 million to $120 million.

Crocs shares, which have fallen 95 percent since January, dropped 37 percent to $1.20 in after-hours trade. The stock ended down 11.6 percent at $1.90 on Nasdaq, the lowest since May 2003.

(Reporting by Alexandria Sage, editing by Richard Chang)

Publié le 12 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Reuters