Charming Shoppes Reports Earnings Results (CHRS)

Charming Shoppes, Inc.

released financial results on Wednesday before the market opened. Charming Shoppes reported a 2nd quarter net loss of $8.6 million, or 7 cents per share, compared to net income of $5.0 million, or 4 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 1.8% to $517.6 million, down from $527.2 million a year earlier. According to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters, the average Wall Street estimate called for earnings of 6 cents per share, on revenue of $513.10 million. Charming Shoppes, Inc. (

) closed Tuesday trading at $3.37 per share. Analysts covering the company's stock give it a consensus price target of $7.17 per share. President and chief executive officer Jim Fogarty said, "With our strong balance sheet and liquidity, Charming Shoppes is an operating turnaround, and my team and I are focused on the success of that turnaround. While we were very disappointed by our EBITDA performance in the quarter, we delivered our first positive comp result in 15 quarters, and stabilized both our top line and our customer base. Our customer base had declined significantly during 2009, and in order to stem the decline, we went on 'offense' with our assortments, we were more promotional, and we invested in additional marketing. Our year-round and seasonal core assortments generally performed well. However, our teams struggled with seasonal non-core merchandise, including novelty and fashion tops and bottoms, and we ultimately were over-receipted in the depth of those choices. In addition, EBITDA was further impacted by heavier discounting than expected to effectively clear seasonal merchandise in an already promotional environment." Read more