Foothill Ranch-based mall clothing store operator Wet Seal Inc. reported a smaller than expected drop in sales at stores open at least a year in October and said it expects quarterly profits at the high end of a prior forecast.

Same-store sales, which measure growth at existing stores and factor out newly opened ones, fell 1.3% from a year earlier. Analysts on average were expecting a 7.8% drop.

Total sales for all stores rose 2% in October from a year earlier to $41 million.

The company runs 420 Wet Seal stores selling clothes for teen girls and 80 Arden B. stores for young women.

Arden B. continued its surge with an 8.2% rise in same-store sales.

Wet Seal stores, which are in the midst of a turnaround after slumping for much of this year, fell 3.1%, the lowest decline so far this year.

For the three months through October, Wet Seal projects a profit of $3.8 million near the high end of a previous forecast of $1.9 million to $4.8 million.

Results are due Nov. 19.

The latest forecast includes $28.6 million in charges for “higher than expected” discounts on clothes as other retailers also continued to rely on promotions to drive sales, Chief Executive Ed Thomas said.

The profit forecast reflects sales “near the high end of our initial guidance,” he said.

Amid the worst market for retailers in recent memory, Wet Seal is in what appears to be the final stages of a turnaround.

In the past year or so, the company has closed stores, cut workers, spiced up lackluster fashions and gotten clothes into stores quicker.

For more on Wet Seal, see the Nov. 2 edition of the Business Journal.