Anaheim-based teen retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. reported a worse than expected fall in February sales at stores open at least a year.
The company’s same-store sales fell 5.7% last month, steeper than Wall Street’s projected 3.7% decline.
Same-store sales at the company’s dominant surfwear chain PacSun fell 3.5%. Demo, a smaller chain selling urban fashions, continued its slump with a 14.7% drop.
Earlier this week, some analysts said they expected disappointing same-store sales from Pacific Sunwear.
The company saw a lack of clearance sales last month, they said.
Like other retailers, Pacific Sunwear also was likely hampered by colder weather in the Midwest and on the East Coast last month, according to analysts.
Brean Murray, Carret & Co.’s Eric Beder dismissed the February results and said March will be more important to Pacific Sunwear and other retailers.
“In conjunction with warmer weather, we believe many of our players will be optimistic entering the crucial five-week March selling period,” he wrote in a report.
Pacific Sunwear is in the midst of a turnaround bid.
Last month, the company said it plans to close 74 stores. For January, it reported a 7.7% drop in sales at stores open at least a year versus a year earlier.
