Thursday, Christopher & Banks Corp. (CBK) anticipates a profit in the third-quarter with effective inventory management and selling, general and administrative cost reductions. However, Wall Street expects the company to post a loss in the third quarter.
Christopher said it expects to report earnings per share between $0.19 and $0.21, at an anticipated effective tax rate of 22%; compared to analysts' expectations of a loss of $0.05 per share for the quarter.
The company expects to report revenue of approximately $132 million; comparable to analysts' revenue estimate of $123.94 million for the third-quarter.
Same-store sales for the quarter declined by 8.4% as compared to the company's previously discussed expectation of a decline in the low to mid-teens.
Christopher said gross margin exceeded company's expectations, going up by approximately 500 basis points as compared to last year's third fiscal quarter. Overall SG&A cost reductions for the third quarter were higher than anticipated. Inventory per store, excluding e-commerce is expected to be down over 20% from the prior year's third quarter.
Lorna Nagler, President and CEO, said, "We exceeded our internal expectations for the third quarter. Also contributing to our results was effective inventory management and SG&A cost reductions for the quarter of more than $7.0 million as compared to last year's third quarter."
The company has been reporting a loss for the seasonally low fourth quarter over the last several years and this trend is expected to continue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010. Wall Street expects a fourth-quarter loss of $0.31 per share.
CBK closed Thursday's regular trading session at $6.02, down $0.24 or 3.83%, on the NYSE. In after market hours, CBK shares rose $0.74 or 12.29% to $6.76.
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