Aeropostale 9-week Sales Drop 11%, Comps Decrease 9%; Sees Smaller Q4 Loss

(RTTNews) - Aeropostale, Inc. (ARO), a mall-based specialty retailer of casual apparel for young women and men, Thursday said total net sales for the nine-week period ended January 3, 2015 decreased 11 percent to $507.8 million from $572.0 million for the nine-week period ended January 4, 2014.

Comparable sales, including the e-commerce channel, for the nine-week period ended January 3, 2015, decreased 9 percent compared to a 15 percent decrease last year.

Julian Geiger, CEO, said, "During the holiday period, we achieved higher margins than originally expected, while delivering comparable sales results that were consistent with our original guidance for the quarter. We continue to manage our inventory appropriately and expect to end the fourth quarter in a clean position."

Based on better than expected margins and expense management, the company now expects operating losses for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 in the range of $18.0 million to $23.0 million, which translates to a net loss in the range of $0.25 to $0.31 per share.

This revised outlook compares to the cmpany's previously issued guidance of operating losses in the range of $28.0 million to $34.0 million, which translated to a net loss in the range of $0.37 to $0.44 per share. This earnings guidance does not include the impact of any asset impairments, accelerated store closure costs, or real estate consulting fees.

The stock gained 3.5 percent in pre-market activity.