Aeropostale Shares Tumble On Disappointing Q1 Results

Shares of

tumbled around 19 percent in after-hours trade after the company reported a wider-than-expected loss for the first quarter. The New York-based company posted a quarterly net loss of $45.3 million, or $0.57 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $83.8 million, or $0.98 per share. Excluding items, the company lost $0.56 per share. Its sales slipped 20 percent to $318.6 million from $395.9 million. However, analysts were expecting a loss of $0.55 per share on revenue of $325 million. The average estimate among 7 Estimize users was for a loss of $0.54 per share and revenue of $322.22 million. Its comparable sales shrank 11 percent in the quarter, versus a 13 percent decline in the year-ago period. During the quarter, the company opened 1 Aeropostale store and closed 12 Aeropostale stores. Aeropostale ended the first quarter with $76.0 million of cash and cash equivalents and long-term debt of $141.1 million. Julian R. Geiger, Chief Executive Officer, said, "As we anticipated, the first quarter of 2015 represented a period of transition for us. We worked our way through a number of issues, including a merchandise assortment that was not consistent with our future direction, unseasonably cool weather, and the West Coast port slowdown. However, the performance of our women's division exceeded our expectations, and we were encouraged by the demand we were able to create through certain key items and promotions." For the second quarter, Aeropostale projects a loss of $0.52 to $0.60 per share, versus analysts' expectations for a loss of $0.37 per share. Aeropostale shares dipped 18.92 percent to $2.10 in the after-hours trading session.