(RTTNews) - Citi Trends, Inc. (CTRN: News ), an urban fashion apparel and accessories retailer, Monday reported a profit for the third quarter, compared to a loss last year, helped by a 21% increase in sales due to higher consumer demand during the back-to-school season. The company also revised its earnings outlook for fiscal year 2009.

The Savannah, Georgia-based company's net income for the third quarter was $606 thousand, compared to a loss of $687 thousand a year earlier.

Net income attributable to common shares was $593 thousand or $0.04 per share, compared to a loss of $687 thousand or $0.05 per share in the previous year.

On average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $0.01 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter rose 21.4% to $127.36 million from $104.95 million a year ago and topped analysts' revenue estimate of $121.02 million. Comparable store sales increased 6.3% in the third quarter.

The company noted that sales and earnings in this year's third quarter benefited from a strong back-to-school season and a favorable comparison to last year's third quarter which was impacted by less discretionary spending by consumers on apparel due to abnormally high gasoline and food prices.

Store activity in the third quarter of 2009 included twenty-two new openings and five expansions, resulting in a total store count of 392 at the end of the quarter.
Cost of sales were $79.72 million, compared to $66.21 million in the previous year. Gross profit rose to $47.64 million from $38.74 million a year ago.

For the nine-month period, net income was $8.29 million or $0.58 per share, up from $7.24 million or $0.51 per share in the same period of the previous year. Net sales increased 11.8% to $382.06 million from $341.60 million last year.

Looking forward, the company expects earnings in the range of $1.30 to $1.35 per share for fiscal 2009. Previously, the company expected fiscal 2009 earnings in the range of $1.28 to $1.33 per share.

Analysts currently expect the company to report earnings of $1.30 per share on revenues of $544.73 million for the year.

Comparable store sales are anticipated to rise in the range of 1% to 3% in the fourth quarter with an increase of about 15% in selling square footage for the year.

CTRN closed Monday's regular trading at $27.99, up 0.68 or 2.49%, on a volume of 236K shares on the Nasdaq. In after hours, the stock declined 0.04 or 0.16%, trading at $27.9453.

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by RTT Staff Writer

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