Profit Jumps at Aeropostale

At 67 cents a share, fourth-quarter earnings beat estimates by 2 cents.
By Nat Worden ,

Teen apparel chain

Aeropostale

(ARO)

reported a 28% jump in fourth-quarter profits Thursday and reiterated its guidance for the current quarter, attributing strength to increased profit margins on strong holiday sales.

The company said its earnings for the quarter ended Jan. 29 rose to $35.3 million, or 62 cents a share, from $27.5 million, or 47 cents a share, in the same period last year.

Excluding an expense adjustment related to a correction in its lease accounting policy, Aeropostale said it earned $38.1 million, or 67 cents a share, beating Wall Street's consensus estimate of 65 cents a share, as reported by Thomson First Call.

Looking ahead, it said it's comfortable with First Call's estimate for first-quarter earnings of 15 cents a share, which would mark a 36.4% increase from last year.

The retailer's sales for the quarter rose 20% from last year's results to $327.1 million, while same-store sales, or sales at stores open for at least a year, added 1.9% on top of an increase of 8.5% in the same period last year.

"Our continued focus on gross margin improvement and operating margin expansion enabled us to translate our 20% gain in sales into a significantly higher increase in earnings per share," said Aeropostale's chairman and chief executive, Julian Geiger, in a statement.

Shares of Aeropostale were recently dipping by 2 cents, or 0.1%, to $33.66 in after-hours trading, after gaining 0.6% during the regular trading session.

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