Zumiez Improves On Overnight Gains Following Raised Q3 Guidance

Zumiez Inc. ZUMZ shares are trading higher by $2.85 (15 percent) at $21.12 in Thursday's session. The multi-channel specialty retailer is getting a huge boost from it raised Q3 guidance along with a strong September sales report that was up 11.5 percent to $75 million.

Following a sharply higher open ($20.88 vs. Wednesday's close of $18.27), it retreated to $20.30 before resuming its move higher. On many occasions, this type of open will attract some profit-taking and will see selling pressure on the issue for the remainder of the session.

However, Zumiez shrugged off the early retreat and reached $21.30 before falling back to its current level. That is just shy of the lower of end of it range from March 10 ($21.42). The following day it swooned to $19.00. Despite announcing an inline Q1 report after the close on March 10, the Street was rattled by lower comps (down 9.5 percent) coupled with lower Q1 sales guidance.

Also adding to the upward momentum is an upgrade from B. Riley from Neutral To Buy.