Francesca's Holdings Rises Slightly After Q4 Results

Shares of

were trading up a little less than two percent in Tuesday's after hours session after the company released its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings results after the closing bell. Francesca's is a holding company for Francesca's Collections, which operates a national chain of specialty retail boutiques. The company reported net income of $14.9 million or $0.33 per share, compared to $8.4 million or $0.19 per share, in last year's corresponding period. This came in ahead of Wall Street analysts' consensus EPS estimates of $0.30. Sales in the period were up 40.6 percent to $86.70 million from $61.65 million, in last year's fourth quarter. This also came in ahead of consensus expectations for sales of $84.92 million in the quarter. Looking ahead to Q1, the company said that it expects earnings per share in a range between $0.25 and $0.26 on sales of between $79.5 million and $80.5 million. The guidance assumes a comparable store sales increase of 4 to 5 percent and the opening of around 50 new boutiques. Analysts currently expect Francesca's to earn $0.26 per share on revenue of $78.36 million in the fiscal first-quarter. For the full=year, the company guided for earnings per share of $1.27 to $1.30, representing a year over year increase of between 23.3 percent to 26.2 percent versus last year's per share income. Sales are expected to be in a range between $365.0 million and $370.0 million for the fiscal year. Currently, analysts have consensus earnings per share estimates of $1.27 on $370.90 million in revenue.