Shares of Foothill Ranch-based mall store operator Wet Seal Inc. were up Friday, a day after reporting May sales results that were better than analysts expected.
Wet Seal’s stock was up nearly 7% at the close of trading on a market value of about $320 million. The company’s shares closed up 6% on Thursday, after reporting sales results at the start of trading.
Sales at stores open at least a year fall 8.4% in May, but that was better than the 10.1% drop Wall Street had expected.
Wet Seal saw same-store sales fall 12.4% at its dominant Wet Seal chain for teen girls. They rose 11% at its smaller Arden B. chain for young women.
The company’s total sales for May fell 8% to $42 million.
The company blamed the overall same-store sales decline on the ongoing retail slump, as well as not having on hand the tops, dresses and accessories that were in demand by shoppers.
Investors seemed to shrug off the drop at Wet Seal stores and were encouraged by the gain at Arden B., which has struggled for the past year or so.
“We see no reason why Arden’s results should decelerate,” analyst Elizabeth Pierce of Newport Beach-based Roth Capital Partners LLC wrote in a note to clients.
The company runs 412 Wet Seal stores and 83 Arden B. stores.
Late last month, Wet Seal warned investors that profits for the three months through July would be below Wall Street expectations.
The company projects a profit of $1.9 million to $4.9 million, down from the $7.8 million analysts had been expecting.
For the three months through May 2, Wet Seal earned $5 million, down 44% from a year earlier.
Sales at the company were $132 million, down 7% from a year earlier amid the retail downturn.
