Dillard's Profit Falls Amid Lower Sales, Yet Tops Estimates; Stock Up

(RTTNews) - Fashion apparel and home furnishings retailer Dillard's Inc. (DDS), Wednesday posted a higher second-quarter profit, helped by better margins that offset a slight drop in sales due to weak demand for home and furniture products and ladies' apparel. While quarterly earnings topped Wall Street estimates, sales fell short of expectations.

Shares of the company gained over 5 percent in after-hours trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Dillard's, based in Little Rock, Arkansas, posted quarterly net income of $36.5 million or $0.79 per share, compared with $31 million or $0.63 per share last year.

On average, four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.74 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Results were helped by gross margin that improved to 34.4 percent from 34.3 percent in the prior year. The company also benefited from lower rental costs.

Sales for the quarter dropped to $1.48 billion from $1.49 billion a year ago. Analysts expected sales of $1.54 billion for the quarter.

On a same-store basis, sales were up 1 percent.

At August 3, Dillard's operated 282 Dillard's locations and 18 clearance centers.

The company's stock closed Wednesday's regular trade at $78.96, down $0.88 or 1.10%, on a volume of 1 million shares. In after hours, the stock gained $4.14 or 5.24%.