Clothestime Bucks Trend as Profit Jumps : Retail: Earnings for year increased 58% to $8.7 million. Analysts say the chain continues to outperform their estimates.

Bucking the trend in the weak retail industry, Clothestime Inc. on Thursday reported a jump in profit for its fourth fiscal quarter and the year.

Earnings for the 12 months ended Jan. 31 increased 58% to $8.7 million, or 58 cents a share, compared with a profit of $5.5 million, or 37 cents a share, for the previous year.

Annual sales rose 22% to $315.2 million from $259 million for the previous year. Same-store sales--transactions at locations open for more than 12 months--increased 8% for the year.

Analysts said the specialty retail chain, which sells discounted women’s apparel in 457 stores nationwide, continues to outperform their estimates.

“It’s like a carburetor in a car; you need so much air and so much gasoline to get the right mix,” said Thomas A. Filandro, analyst at Gruntal & Co., an investment bank in New York. “They have hit the right combination between merchandise and price. They price sharper than anyone else.”

Norm Abramson, president of Clothestime, said that, though the company’s 145 stores in Southern California did not perform as well as the rest of the chain, most stores showed increases.

“Clothestime seems to operate well in both recession and normal times, but I’d still rather have a good economy,” Abramson said.

The company, based in Anaheim, expects to open 75 stores and perhaps close 10 this year, he said, resulting in a net gain of 65 stores. He also said the company will renovate about 40 stores, compared with 58 last year.

Much of the momentum for the past year came during the fourth quarter, which includes the Christmas shopping season. Abramson said that heavy price promotion made the holidays successful.

For the fourth quarter, the company’s profit increased 66% to $2.2 million, compared with $1.4 million for the same period a year earlier. Earnings per share for the quarter were 15 cents, up from 9 cents. Three-month sales were up 27% to $90 million from $71 million.

Analyst Otto F. Grote at Derby Securities in New York said he was surprised by Clothestime’s fourth-quarter results because other retailers across the nation have complained that poor weather dragged down sales.

“Competing retailers have been zapped by snowstorm after snowstorm on the East Coast and rain elsewhere,” he said. “People don’t shop in bad weather, and retailers get caught with the wrong merchandise when it is stormy off season.”

Clothestime Reports Profit

If there is a soft economy and lack of consumer confidence, you can’t tell by Clothestime Inc.’s latest results. The Anaheim-based retailer closed its fiscal year ending Jan. 30 with 22% higher revenue and a 58% increase in profit from the previous 12 months. Revenue increased by $56.2 million and profit by $3.2 million. Figures in thousands of dollars, except data per share:

4th qtr 4th qtr 12 months 12 months 1992 1993 1992 1993 Revenue $71,007 $90,004 $258,962 $315,164 Net income 1,357 2,249 5,469 8,653 Per share 0.09 0.15 0.37 0.58

Source: Clothestime Inc.