Friday's Early Winners & Losers

Shares of Chico's (CHS Quote) jumped in late trading Thursday after the clothing retailer matched Wall Street's first-quarter earnings expectations and set forth plans for more investments in store expansions.

The company's earnings rose to $52 million, or 29 cents a share, from $47 million, or 26 cents a share, a year ago. Sales increased 20% to $392 million, while same-store sales rose 6.6%. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were looking for earnings of 29 cents a share on revenue of 397.9 million.

Chico's lowered its fiscal-year earnings forecast to $1.20 to $1.24 from its previous projection of $1.23 to $1.26 a share. Analysts are looking for earnings of $1.22 a share. The company also noted that it expects to make several "aggressive" long-term investments. Chico's aims to increase its square footage by 30% this year, with another 25% gain planned for fiscal 2007. Shares gained $2.13, or 7.1%, to $32.11 in late trading.

Credence Systems(CMOS Quote) posted a fiscal second-quarter loss of $14.2 million, or 14 cents a share, narrowed from a loss of $19.5 million, or 21 cents a share, from a year ago. The most recent quarter includes charges totaling $19.4 million, including an inventory write-down and restructuring charges. Analysts -- whose estimates typically exclude charges -- were looking for earnings of 4 cents a share. Credence's sales rose 5.6% to $124.8 million, below analysts' target of $126.3 million.

For the third quarter ending in July, the company projected a loss of 9 cents to 11 cents a share, including $12 million to $14 million in charges. Credence sees sales of $125 million to $129 million. Wall Street is looking for earnings of 8 cents a share on sales of $135.7 million. Shares dropped 63 cents, or 10%, to $5.77 in after-hours trading.

Agile Software(AGIL Quote) fell after the San Jose, Calif.-based company beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter estimates. For the quarter ended April 30, the company swung to a profit of $3.7 million, or 6 cents a share, from a loss of $4.4 million, or 8 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding stock-option costs, restructuring charges and a gain on the sale of investments, Agile had earnings of $1.7 million, or 3 cents a share. Analysts were looking for earnings of 1 cent a share. Revenue rose to $34 million from $32 million a year earlier, but fell short of analysts' forecast of $34.5 million. Shares dropped 41 cents, or 5.9%, to $6.49 after hours.