Christopher & Banks Slips To Loss In Q1; Lowers 2015 Sales Outlook

(RTTNews) - Specialty women's apparel retailer Christopher & Banks Corp. (CBK) on Tuesday reported a loss for the first quarter, reflecting lower sales amid the West Coast port delays and unseasonably cold weather.

However, loss per share for the quarter was narrower than analysts' expectations, while revenues missed their estimates. Looking ahead, the company forecast sales for the second quarter below the Street expectations and also lowered its sales outlook for fiscal 2015. Shares of the company are down almost 19 percent in the regular trading session.

LuAnn Via, President and Chief Executive Officer of Christopher & Banks, said, "Overall, our first quarter results were in-line with our expectations which reflected the residual impact from the West Coast port delays and unseasonably cold weather throughout certain regions in which we operate. We continued to make progress on several of our key strategic initiatives during the quarter, including optimizing our real estate portfolio and enhancing our merchandise offering."

The company's first-quarter net loss was $1.44 million or $0.04 per share, compared to net income of $2.62 million or $0.07 per share in the prior-year quarter.

On average, three analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report loss of $0.05 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter declined 11 percent to $91.62 million from $103.37 million in the same quarter last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $93.06 million for the quarter.

During the latest quarter, the company operated an average of 6.0 percent fewer stores than during the comparable period last year, reflecting its Missy, Petite, Women or MPW store conversion program.

Same-store sales for the quarter decreased 11.7 percent. This follows a 0.2 percent decrease in the year-ago period.

Total costs and expenses declined 6 percent from the prior-year quarter to $94.12 million, mainly due to lower merchandise, buying and occupancy costs.

Gross margin declined to 35.2 percent from 36.7 percent last year.

Looking ahead to the second quarter, Christopher & Banks forecast total net sales between $100 million and $103 million, compared to net sales of $106.6 million in the year-ago period.

For fiscal 2015, the company lowered its outlook for sales to a range of $416 million to $423 million, from the prior range of $422 million to $432 million.

The Street is currently looking for second-quarter revenues of $105.73 million and full-year revenues of $426.49 million.

The company expects average store count for the full year to be down about 3.0 percent and related average square footage for the year to be up about 0.5 percent, as compared to the prior year.

CBK is trading at $4.32, down $1.01 or 18.95 percent on a volume of 273,883 shares.