Pacific Sunwear Loss Narrows, Details Weak Outlook; Shares Down

(RTTNews) - Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. (PSUN), a specialty retailer focused on teens, Thursday said its first-quarter loss narrowed from a year ago, due mainly to revenue growth and improved gross margin. However, shares of the company plunged ten percent in after-hours trade on weak outlook for the second quarter.

Looking forward to the second quarter, the company expects adjusted loss from continuing operations of $0.08 to $0.02 per share, with revenues of $200 million to $210 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently estimate second-quarter earnings of $0.02 per share on revenues of $216.11 million. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Chief Executive Gary Schoenfeld said, "While we anticipate continued growth in our Men's business, the promotional environment that we are seeing in the mall coupled with underperformance in a couple of categories in Women's is resulting in a more cautious outlook for the second quarter."

Pacific Sunwear sells branded and proprietary casual apparel, accessories, and footwear designed for teens and young adults.

Anaheim, California-based Pacific Sunwear's first-quarter loss narrowed to $10.4 million or $0.15 per share from $24.2 million or $0.35 per share last year.

Adjusted loss from continuing operations narrowed to $7.4 million or $0.11 per share from $9.5 million or $0.14 per share last year. On average, 12 analysts expected a loss of $0.13 per share for the quarter.

Pacific Sunwear's revenues for the quarter grew to $171.1 million from $166.4 million last year. Analysts expected revenues of $170.74 million for the quarter.

Comparable store sales for the first quarter increased 3 percent. The company ended the quarter with 618 stores compared to 638 stores a year ago.

Pacific Sunwear said its gross margin for the first quarter improved 100 basis points.

PSUN closed Thursday's trading at $2.94, down $0.16 or 5.16%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further dropped $0.29 or 9.86% in after-hours trade.