Aeropostale 4th-qtr profit jumps 42 percent
Clothing retailer Aeropostale Inc.’s profit jumped 42 percent in the fourth quarter on higher sales, and it also said Thursday that its 2010 profit would be better than Wall Street expects.
Its shares rose in after-hours trading.
Aeropostale has outperformed competitors in the slow economy, drawing customers with lower prices than other teen retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch.
In the three months that ended Jan. 30, the retailer earned $96.6 million, or 99 cents per share, up from the $68.2 million, or 67 cents per share, it earned a year earlier.
The latest results beat a 95-cents-per-share prediction by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Revenue rose 16 percent to $801.2 million, better than the $786 million that analysts had expected.
Aeropostale also forecast profit for the first quarter and all of 2010 that was better than analyst predictions. In the first quarter, the company expects profit in a range of 39 cents to 40 cents per share, higher than the 37-cent expectation.
Aeropostale said 2010 earnings per share would be 15 percent higher than 2009 profit of $2.27, implying profit of about $2.61 per share. That’s higher than the $2.48 per share analysts predict.
The company’s stock rose $1.43, or 5.3 percent, to $28.48 in after-hours trading Thursday after closing the regular session up 63 cents at $27.05.
For all of 2009, the company’s profit jumped 54 percent to $229.5 million, or $2.27 per share, from $149.4 million, or $1.47 per share, in 2008. Revenue rose 18 percent to $2.23 billion.
[BusinessWeek]
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