MCNAUGHTON APPAREL GROUP INC. /New York, New York Holiday Slump Behind It, Designer Presses On.(A)(The New America)

Byline: Robyn Taylor Parets

Investor's Business Daily

This year's holiday shopping season wasn't exactly kind to retailers or clothing companies. Lower-than-expected consumer spending led to sales growth declines for many firms and skittishness on Wall Street.

One of those hit was McNaughton Apparel Group Inc., which makes moderately priced women's clothing. The stock, which trades as MAGI, plummeted below 9 in late December after trading around 17 in the fall. It now tra

des near 11.

Analysts polled by First Call expect earnings for fiscal 2001's first quarter, which ends this month, to slide 85% below year-ago levels. That would mark the first quarterly decline in almost two years..

The recent bad news is about all that's gone wrong for McNaughton in awhile. Earnings for fiscal 2000, which ended in early November, are expected to be up 170% to $3 a share. Analyst John Rouleau of Gruntal & Co. projects McNaughton will post fiscal 2000 sales of $509.7 million, up 25% from a year earlier.