Joe's Jeans Pops after Stellar Earnings Report

Shares of Joe's Jeans (NASDAQ: JOEZ) are seeing much strength during Friday's trading session after the company announced first quarter earnings yesterday, which were better than analysts were expecting.For the first quarter of fiscal 2012, Joe's Jeans overall net sales were $26.0 million compared to $21.2 million from the prior year comparative period, or a 23% increase. The company's overall gross profit for the quarter increased to $13.1 million from $10.4 million in the prior year comparative period, or a 26% increase. Joe's Jeans overall gross margin in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 was 50% compared to 49% in the prior year first quarter. Operating expense in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 was $11.3 million compared to $9.9 million in the prior year period. Marc Crossman, CEO of Joe's Jeans, commenting on the quarter, said, “We are extremely pleased with our results for the quarter. The healthy increase in consolidated sales is indicative of two trends that we started seeing in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011. First, our wholesale business has not only stabilized, but is growing across all channels. Second, our retail strategy continues to provide material diversification to our revenue base, now representing 20% of our revenue for the quarter.” Crossman continued, “Because we generated healthy increases in both retail and wholesale sales while maintaining expenses, this translated into strong growth in our operating income.”Currently, shares of Joe's Jeans are trading about 15% higher at $1.43 per share.