Huntington Beach-based clothing maker Quiksilver Inc. reported a smaller than expected loss Thursday and beat sales expectations for its recently ended quarter.
The company, which makes clothes inspired by surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding, posted an adjusted loss of $2.5 million for the three months through Jan. 31, versus a loss of $9 million a year earlier.
Wall Street analysts were expecting a much larger loss of $16.5 million.
Revenue was down 2% to $433 million but ahead of the $413 million analysts were looking for.
For the current three months through April, Quiksilver said it projects a profit per share in the low single digits.
Analysts expect a profit of 3 cents a share, or $3.8 million.
The company said it sees sales “down in the high single digits” from a year earlier, when it had sales of $494 million.
Analysts on average expect sales of $465 million, down 6% from a year earlier.
Shares of Quiksilver were flat in afterhours trading on a market value of nearly $400 million.
In regular trading Thursday, Quiksilver’s shares closed down nearly 8%.
The decline could be a pullback after a surge in Quiksilver’s volatile shares in recent weeks. They’re up 75% since February.
The company’s shares trade for about $3 each and often see big swings up or down.
Quiksilver is on the mend after a failed acquisition and a retail downturn that’s hit surf-inspired clothing makers particularly hard.
In 2005, Quiksilver paid $560 million for French ski maker Rossignol but couldn’t turn the money-losing operation around.
It unloaded Rossignol in a $50 million fire sale in late 2008.
The company spent last year reworking a heavy debt burden left from the acquisition and dealing with a steep downturn in sales.
