At a Glance
Other earnings, excluding one-time gains or charges unless noted, include:
* American Eagle Outfitters Inc.’s third-quarter profit grew 20% to $29.2 million, or 61 cents a share, well beyond the 54 cents analysts anticipated. The retailer’s sales rose 27% to $282.8 million, led by strong demand for its branded denim, sweaters, knits and accessories.
* Barnes & Noble Inc. reported a third-quarter net loss of 4 cents a share, excluding charges from its investment in Barnesandnoble.com, better than the 5-cent loss analysts expected. The book retailer’s net loss including the charges was $5.2 million, or 8 cents a share, versus profit of $3.4 million, or 5 cents, a year ago. Sales rose 33% to $951.8 million.
* Borders Group Inc. said its third-quarter loss widened to $5 million, or 6 cents a share, from $1.5 million, or 2 cents a share, a deeper loss than the 4 cents analysts predicted, and said fourth-quarter results will miss expectations. The book retailer’s sales rose 7% to $704 million.
* Limited Inc.’s third-quarter profit rose 19% to $49.2 million, or 11 cents a share, as analysts expected. Sales rose 7% to $2.17 billion, while sales at stores open at least a year grew 8%. Same-store sales at the Express division, the retailer’s largest business, jumped 18%, while same-store sales at Limited, Lerner and other chains were up in the single digits.
* Sharper Image Corp. said its third-quarter profit soared more than twentyfold to $3.11 million, or 23 cents a share, from $148,000, or 1 cent, on higher sales of Sharper Image Razor scooters and other products sold under the retailer’s brand name. The results beat analysts’ expectations of 21 cents. Sales jumped 68% to $98 million, while same-store sales climbed 66%.
* Talbots Inc., operator of women’s apparel stores, said earnings climbed 75% in its third quarter to $34.9 million, or 54 cents a share, meeting expectations, as sales of full-priced merchandise boosted results. Sales grew 23% to $391.7 million.
* VA Linux Systems Inc. said its fiscal first-quarter operating loss narrowed to $7.04 million, or 15 cents a share, from $7.2 million, or 27 cents, a year ago, matching revised forecasts. Analysts had expected a loss of 9 cents until the company warned 10 days ago that slowing Internet sales would hurt results. Revenue soared to $56.1 million from $14.8 million.
* Venator Group Inc. said profit jumped 93% in its fiscal third quarter to $27 million, or 20 cents a share, matching expectations. The operator of Foot Locker and Champs stores said sales rose 9.6% to $1.13 billion.
