Pier 1 Shares Climb After Company Posts 4Q Results

The company said it expects fiscal 2010 inventory to be in a range between $300 million and $340 million.

Standard & Poor's analyst Michael Souers said he was maintaining his hold rating on Pier 1.

"While (Pier 1) has made significant progress in reducing inventory levels, which should boost gross margins, we continue to project sales weakness throughout" the fiscal year," Souers said in a research note.

For the fiscal year, Pier 1 said it lost $129 million, or $1.45 per share. The company lost $96 million, or $1.09 per share, the year before.

Total sales sank nearly 13 percent to $1.32 billion.

Executives said they expect to remain unprofitable for two more years because the recession is cutting so deeply into its sales.

"It is obvious that the recession has delayed our return to profitability," Chief Executive and President Alex Smith told investors during a conference call. "We are disappointed by this but not thrown off balance or unnerved."