According to the company's executive vice president and chief financial officer Neill Davis, lower than planned selling and administrative expenses led to a diluted earnings per common share of $.75 for the quarter. The guidance given in early June for the quarter was between $.56 and $.60 per share. This didn't prevent Davis and CEO George Zimmer from being very cautious with its Q3 guidance, which is in the range of $.27 to $30 per diluted common share.
"The suit industry overall is down double digits," Zimmer commented. "In contrast, our suit business, in dollar terms, is up by 4%, and in units, is up 23%. We're clearly growing our market share."
It did not mean, however, that the executive staff at Men's Wearhouse believed the company, or economy, was out of the woods. Zimmer pointed out that in the business cycles, the suit business tends to lead during the high point of a cycle, while lagging during the recovery.
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