Why Shares of Skechers USA Inc. Surged Today

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Skechers USA surged on Thursday after the company reported a blowout first quarter. By noon, the stock was up about 12.5%.

So what: Skechers reported revenue of $768 million during the first quarter, a 40.5% year-over-year increase. Analysts were expecting revenue to come in closer to $700 million. The main drivers of this revenue growth were double-digit increases in both the wholesale business and the company-owned retail business.

Skechers reported EPS of $1.10 for the quarter, nine cents higher than analyst estimates and 80% higher than the EPS during the first quarter of 2014. Skechers' operating margin rose to 11.5% during the quarter, up from 8.8% during the same period last year.

Now what: Skechers had a tremendous quarter, with the company recording the highest quarterly revenue in its history. Going forward, the company expects this strong growth to continue, with COO and CFO David Weinberg having this to say: "Our record 2015 first quarter and a strong start to April in terms of revenues and backlogs, including double-digit domestic and international retail comps, leads us to believe that our accelerated growth trend will continue through the second quarter and into the back half of 2015."

Skechers suffered major sales declines in 2011 and 2012, only to bounce back in 2013 and 2014 with rapid growth. Whether this growth can continue beyond this year is an open question, but for now it seems that the company is firing on all cylinders, and investors have been rewarded as a result.

The article Why Shares of Skechers USA Inc. Surged Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Timothy Green has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.