Aeropostale, Sequenom: After-Hours Trades

Shares of Aeropostale were down in late trades on news of a weak outlook and a management shake-up.
By Michael Baron ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Shares of

Aeropostale

(ARO)

tumbled in after-hours action after the New York-based fashion retailer

missed Wall Street expectations for its third-quarter results

, gave a disappointing outlook for the fourth quarter, and announced a shake-up in the C-suite.

The company's earnings of 63 cents a share for the three months ended on Oct. 31 were a penny short of the average analysts' view, which might have been a passable performance if Aeropostale had better news on the current quarter.

Instead, it said November same-store sales dipped 1% as sales trends "decelerated significantly" in the remaining days of Thanksgiving weekend after Black Friday, and forecast earnings of 94 to 96 cents a share for the fourth quarter ending in January, below a current consensus view of $1.03 a share.

Aeropostale also ended a co-CEO arrangement, naming Thomas Johnson to the post and announcing the resignation of Mindy Meads. The stock was last quoted down 9% to $24.40 in late trades on volume of more than 700,000.

Sequenom

Shares of

Sequenom

(SQNM)

fell in extended trading on Wednesday after the San Diego-based gene analysis technology developer disclosed plans to sell more stock.

Details on the company's expectations for the offering were scant as no information was provided on its potential size, terms or timing. The sale is being co-managed by

Lazard Capital Markets

and

Piper Jaffray

with

Jefferies & Co.

acting as the sole bookrunner.

The stock was last quoted at $6.36, down 6.6%, on volume of more than 220,000, according to

Nasdaq.com

. Based on a regular session close at $6.81, the shares were up nearly 66% so far in 2010; although their 52-week high of $8.65 occurred back in early March.

Finisar

Finisar

(FNSR) - Get Report

got a lift in late trades following a promising quarterly report. The shares had gained 4.2% to $20.60 at last check with almost 110,000 shares changing hands.

After the closing bell, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Finisar, which makes optical networking equipment, posted a non-GAAP

generally accepted accounting principles profit of $38.3 million, or 44 cents a share, for the three months ended Oct. 31, well above its year-ago equivalent earnings of $7.5 million, or 11 cents a share.

The average estimate of analysts polled by

Thomson Reuters

was for earnings of 38 cents a share in the October-ended period.

Revenue came in at $240.9 million for the quarter, up 65% year-over-year and 16% on a sequential basis. The consensus analysts' view was for revenue of $229.7 million. The company's operating margin improved to 17% from 6.1% a year ago and 14% in the prior quarter.

Finisar was also bullish about the current quarter ending in January, saying it's seeing increased demand for LAN/SAN

local area networking/storage area networking and metro/telecom products. It expects to see a sequential increase of 20-30% in revenue from WSS/ROADM

wavelength selective switch/reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer line cards in its current fiscal third quarter.

Based on a regular session close at $19.77, Finisar shares were already up 114% year-to-date.

Collective Brands

Shares of

Collective Brands

(PSS)

were also rising in extended trades on strong earnings. The Topeka, Kan.-based footwear retailer reported a third-quarter profit of $47.6 million, or 75 cents a share, on sales of $881.8 million, up from year-ago earnings of $36.9 million, or 57 cents a share, on sales of $867 million, and ahead of Wall Street's view for earnings of 52 cents a share on sales of $856.9 million.

Collective Brands, which is the holding company for Payless ShoeSource and also markets brands like Keds and Saucony, cited the success of an Oprah Winfrey promotional event as a contributing factor in its performance.

The stock was last quoted at $20.51, up nearly 17%, on volume of more than 700,000, according to

Nasdaq.com

.

Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrances

Positive momentum from the regular session continued after the closing bell for

Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrances

(ULTA) - Get Report

, whose shares ticked up 2.8% to $37.50 on after-hours volume of around 58,000. .

The stock gained 4.4% to $36.47 on Wednesday with its intraday high of $36.71 representing a new 52-week peak. Year-to-date, the shares have risen more than 90% and the buyers have been out in force of late as the stock has risen in six of the last seven sessions.

The Bolingbrook, Ill.-based makeup and beauty products retailer is slated to report its fiscal third-quarter results after Thursday's closing bell. The current average estimate of analysts polled by

Thomson Reuters

is for a profit of 20 cents a share in the October-ended quarter on revenue of $330.8 million.

Ulta Salon has topped Wall Street's expectations in seven straight quarters, including coming in 20% above the average analyst EPS view in the past two.

--

Written by Michael Baron in New York.

>To contact the writer of this article, click here:

Michael Baron

.

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Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors, reporters and analysts from holding positions in any individual stocks.

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