Pier 1 Shares Climb After Company Posts 4Q Results

CHICAGO (AP) — Apparently in response to troubled home decor chain Pier 1 Imports Inc. announcing it cut inventory levels, its shares rose during Tuesday trading despite the company's report of a fourth-quarter loss.

For the three months that ended Feb. 28, including most of the crucial holiday shopping season, the company lost $29 million, or 33 cents per share. That compares with a profit of $14 million, or 16 cents per share, for the same period a year earlier.

Sales fell 11 percent to $389 million from $437 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the Fort Worth, Texas-based chain to lose 18 cents on revenue of $358.6 million.

Same-store sales — an important retail industry metric of sales in stores open at least a year that eliminates the effect of stores opening or closing — sank 9.7 percent.

Merchandise margins for the quarter were 44.3 percent, down from 48 percent in the fourth quarter, and inventory was $316 million, down from $412 million last year.