Proactiveinvestors recommends
Additional Information
Market: NYSE
Sector: Clothing & Footwear
EPIC: CHS
Latest Price: 15.07  (-0.13% Descending)
52-week High: 16.26
52-week Low: 9.94
Market Cap: 2,526.79M
1 year chart
digital-look imported chart image
1 day chart
digital-look imported chart image
Chico's FAS Inc.
www.chicosfas.com

Chico’s FAS, Inc. is a specialty retailer of private branded, casual-to-dressy clothing, intimates, complementary accessories, and other non-clothing gift items under the Chico’s, White House |Black Market and Soma Intimates brand names

Full Chico's FAS Inc. profile here
Pdf

Chico's FAS shares rally 16% on strong Q4 results

22nd Feb 2012, 12:56 pm by Deborah Sterescu
Chico's FAS shares rally 16% on strong Q4 results

Chico's FAS (NYSE:CHS) saw its shares jump more than 16 percent Wednesday after announcing fourth quarter results that well beat estimates, with profits rising 25 percent year-over-year.

For the three months that ended January 28, the women's apparel and accessories retailer said net income was $25.1 million, or 15 cents per diluted share, compared to a year-prior profit of $20.7 million, or 12 cents per diluted share.

Net sales rose 19.8 percent to $569.2 million, versus $475. million a year ago, reflecting a comparable sales increase of 8.7 percent, as well as an 8.7% rise in square footage and $28.5 million in sales from its acquisition of Boston Proper, the company said.

Analysts, on average, were expecting the company to earn 11 cents a share on sales of $546.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

Comparable sales are considered a better gauge of a retailer's financial health as it excludes sales from stores that recently opened or closed during the year.

The 8.7 percent rise in same store sales is on top of a 4.5 percent increase in the year-ago fourth quarter and is a result of an improvement in both average dollar sale and transaction count.

The company's Chico's/Soma Intimates brands' comparable sales increased 5.5 percent and the White House | Black Market (WH|BM) brand's same store sales rose a whopping 15.4 percent following a 4.7 percent increase in last year's fourth quarter.

For the latest three month period, gross margin was 52.3 percent, representing a 90 basis point decrease from last year's fourth quarter, mainly due to the planned strategic use of Chico's inventory for traffic-driving promotions, and the inclusion of Boston Proper's results.

The company said these effects were partially offset by higher margins at the WH|BM and Soma Intimates brands on increased full-price selling and "effective promotional activities".

The drop in margins was less than expected, however, as higher sales are often the result of discounting, which can affect margins.

Selling, general and administrative expenses rose 16.7 percent in the quarter to $259.3 million.

Excluding $15.1 million of inventory related to Boston Proper, inventories increased more than 12 percent over last year.

Looking forward, Chico's said it expects net sales to increase at a mid teens percentage rate to around $2.5 billion in fiscal 2012, above market estimates, which includes comparable sales growth in the mid-single digit range.

For the fiscal year that ended January 28, net income was $144.4 million, or $0.84 per diluted share, excluding one-time acquisition and integration costs.

The company, through its brands – Chico's, White House | Black Market, Soma Intimates, and Boston Proper, is a women's specialty retailer.

Chico's currently operates 601 boutiques and 84 outlets throughout the U.S.

Shares of the business were up 16.4 percent Wednesday, trading at $14.91 as of 12:39pm ET.

No investment advice

The Company is a publisher and is not registered with or authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). You understand and agree that no content published on the Site constitutes a recommendation that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable or advisable for any specific person. You further understand that none of the information providers or their affiliates will advise you personally concerning the nature, potential, advisability, value or suitability of any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, investment strategy, or other matter.

You understand that the Site may contain opinions from time to time with regard to securities mentioned in other products, including company related products, and that those opinions may be different from those obtained by using another product related to the Company. You understand and agree that contributors may write about securities in which they or their firms have a position, and that they may trade such securities for their own account. In cases where the position is held at the time of publication and such position is known to the Company, appropriate disclosure is made. However, you understand and agree that at the time of any transaction that you make, one or more contributors may have a position in the securities written about. You understand that price and other data is supplied by sources believed to be reliable, that the calculations herein are made using such data, and that neither such data nor such calculations are guaranteed by these sources, the Company, the information providers or any other person or entity, and may not be complete or accurate.

From time to time, reference may be made in our marketing materials to prior articles and opinions we have published. These references may be selective, may reference only a portion of an article or recommendation, and are likely not to be current. As markets change continuously, previously published information and data may not be current and should not be relied upon.