Shares of Tilly’s Inc. in Irvine were up 12% in midday trading Thursday following a first quarter report that exceeded Wall Street expectations on revenue and despite a higher-than-expected loss.
The apparel retailer’s net sales were $120.2 million for the three months ended April 30, about the same as last year. Its net loss came in at $2.7 million, compared to a profit of $1.3 million or 5 cents per diluted share during the same period last year.
Analysts expected a loss of about $2 million on about $119.9 million in revenue in the quarter.
“Our fiscal 2016 first quarter [same store] sales declined 4% in line with our outlook range of down 3% to 6%,” Chief Executive Ed Thomas said during Tilly’s earnings call. “Our comp sales trend began to improve in the final two weeks of the quarter, and this improvement has continued into the second quarter. Our online business continued to perform well, with strong growth in the first quarter.”
Tilly’s expects in the current “comparable store sales to be in the range of flat to minus 4%, operating results to range from break even to a loss of $3 million and per share results to range from break even to a loss of 6 cents,” Mike Henry, the retailer’s chief financial officer said.
The company ended the quarter with 224 stores, a 5% increase from 213 it had a year ago. Its market value is about $182 million.
