NEW YORK -- Cosmetic Center Inc.'s shares fell 20 percent amid concern the drug and cosmetic retailer will post lackluster sales through the first half of 1995.
The Savage, Md.-based company confirmed that outlook when it reported a half-hour before the close of trading that December sales were unchanged from a year earlier at $19.3 million. The company partly blamed poor fragrance sales for the lackluster results.
Cosmetic Center's Class A shares fell $2.50, to $9.75 -- the lowest since Oct. 16, 1991. About 65,600 shares were traded on the Nasdaq stock market, about five times the stock's three-month daily average of 13,000.
Analysts at Legg Mason Inc. and Scott & Stringfellow Inc. lowered their recommendations on the company's stock before the sales numbers were released.
Michael Mead, who covers the seller and distributor of brand-name cosmetics, fragrances and beauty aids at Legg Mason Inc. in Baltimore, lowered the stock to "hold" from "buy," traders at the firm said.