Skechers USA Inc. is stepping up.

The Manhattan Beach footwear company had been strolling along until 2011, when it stumbled into a two-year fiasco over the problematic marketing of its Shape-Up toning shoes. Unsold inventories, along with lawsuits and fines tied to its advertising claims for the shoes, cost the company more than $100 million and its stock cratered. Skechers then began its long hike back, returning to its core business of affordable footwear.

That change in strategy has paid off: The company last week reported fourth quarter net income of $14 million (28 cents a share), 250 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier and well above the consensus estimate of 17 cents a share. Revenue rose 14 percent to more than $450 million, with double-digit increases at both its company-owned retail and domestic wholesale businesses.

Skechers was of the week’s biggest gainers on the LABJ stock index. (See page 34.) The share price shot up 19 percent to close at $35.76 on Feb. 13, its highest level since mid-2010.

“Skechers is definitely back,” said Christopher Svezia, analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group in New York. “They refocused back on to their core business. Their products are now working so well they are taking market share.”

After the toning shoe debacle, Skechers developed new lightweight walking and running shoes, called Gowalk and Gorun, respectively. The company also launched a new line of “relaxed fit” comfort shoes. Sales of these product lines have grown by double-digit percentages for several quarters now, both in the United States and internationally.

Skechers had been making similar shoes for years prior to its decision to ride the toning-shoe train; the difference now is that the company may have found the right pricing strategy.

“If there was any silver lining to come out of the toning-shoe fiasco, it was the realization that Skechers could sell shoes at a higher price point than it had previously and still remain well below prices for comparable shoes offered by competitors,” Svezia said.

For example, he said several years back that Skechers sold shoes for around $50; now, pairs of Gowalk and Gorun shoes typically sell for $70 or $80. That’s still well below the $100-plus that major athletic footwear companies such as Nike Inc. and New Balance charge for similar shoes.

David Weinberg, Skechers’ chief operating officer and chief financial officer, said the key to the turnaround was focusing on four key principles.

“Skechers has always been known for its quality, comfort, price and style, and this is why consumers have gravitated to us,” he said in an email statement to the Business Journal for this article.

Going forward, Svezia said the main challenge is resisting the temptation to ramp up shoe supplies too quickly, as happened with the toning shoes. When demand for the toning shoes suddenly fell after a study cast doubt on their effectiveness, Skechers was left with huge unsold inventories.

“They have to make sure that demand slightly outstrips supply,” he said, “and not the other way around.”