(NASDAQ: CROX) makes what amounts to plastic shoes. The company's recent financial performance strongly suggests they are increasingly popular footwear. That's very good news for shareholders, and the stock has more than doubled in price over the past year. Before you get too excited, however, it might help to take a step back and examine the company's balance sheet a bit closer. 

In the first quarter of 2023, Crocs' top line increased by a huge 34% year over year. That figure should be taken with a grain of salt, though. The company acquired the Hey Dude brand in February of 2022, so there's some noise to dig through. For example, Hey Dude is relatively small compared to Crocs, and simply pushing the newly acquired footwear brand into the Crocs distribution network has been a huge benefit. In the first quarter, Hey Dude's sales jumped by 104% compared to the year-ago period (which was only a partial quarter).

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Source Fool.com