DSW Posts In-Line Q2 Earnings, But Sales Miss Views

reported in-line earnings for the second quarter, but the company's sales missed analysts' estimates. The Columbus, Ohio-based company posted a quarterly profit of $37.6 million, or $0.42 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $34.3 million, or $0.38 per share. Its sales climbed 6.8 percent year-over-year to $627.2 million from $587.1 million. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.42 per share on sales of $637 million. The average estimate among 16 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.44 per share and revenue of $638.31 million. Its same-store sales rose 1.8 percent in the latest quarter, versus a 0.8 percent growth last year. The company's board approved a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share. At the end of the quarter, the company had $471 million in cash, short-term and long-term investments, versus $465 million in the second quarter previous year. Mike MacDonald, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We were encouraged with our accomplishments in the second quarter. Our double digit earnings growth over the prior period reflected a significant shift in favor of regular priced merchandise selling. This shift enabled us to achieve meaningful merchandise margin rate expansion and gross profit dollar growth. We also advanced our strategy of becoming a more customer-centric company by evolving our organization, systems, and processes to meet our customers' changing expectations. As a result of this financial and strategic process, we remain confident in our direction." DSW reaffirmed its full-year earnings forecast of $1.80 to $1.90 per share. DSW shares fell 3.22 percent to close at $30.91 yesterday.