Before being incarcerated last fall, Martha Stewart talked about being out in time to "get things growing again" during the spring planting season.

As the lifestyle entrepreneur left prison early Friday, her company could only hope that her powers of financial rejuvenation were as keen as her green thumb. advertisement




Her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., was hit hard as Stewart endured a trial and criminal conviction last year.

The company lost more than $60 million in 2004 as circulation and ad revenue sank at Stewart's namesake magazine. It has notified Wall Street that first-quarter 2005 numbers will be poor. None of the five analysts who closely follow Martha Stewart Living recommend buying its stock.

But many investors disagree: Shares have risen 17 percent this year, although they fell $3.20 on Friday, to $30.75, on the New York Stock Exchange.

"The company exists because of the charisma of Martha Stewart," said Claude Singer, senior vice president of Siegel & Gale, a New York brand-strategy consulting firm. "She now has a comeback wrinkle to her story."

Just in case the image of a prison-chastened Stewart proves not to be enough to help sales of her bedding, cookware and furniture, she has inked deals to star in two much-hyped television shows, including a prime-time series fashioned after The Apprentice.

"I see tremendous opportunity in front of us," Susan Lyne, new chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, said in a recent conference call with stock analysts.

Analysts are split as to whether customers will come back quickly. Some say Stewart shouldn't be underestimated. Her products still sell, and the pending acquisition of Sears, Roebuck & Co. by Kmart Holding Corp. could expand the number of stores carrying her wares.

Their success may rest in part on the image Stewart projects in the next days and weeks. Hayes Roth, vice president of worldwide marketing at Landor Associates, said Stewart essentially has a clean slate.

"She now has this defining moment," he said.