Sharper Image Forecasts Wider Loss for Quarter

Sharper Image Corp., which sells products including robotic vacuum cleaners and massage chairs, forecast a wider-than-expected fiscal second-quarter loss Thursday amid falling sales and higher expenses. The shares fell as much as 22% in trading after the markets closed.

The company forecast a net loss for the quarter ending July 31 of 40 cents to 45 cents a share, compared with a 16-cent loss estimate, based on the average of 12 analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. Earnings for the year ending Jan. 31 will be breakeven to 30 cents a share, compared with a 57-cent estimate in the Thomson survey.

“We continue to see a sluggish consumer,” spokesman Tersh Barber said.

For the fiscal first quarter ended April 30, Sharper Image reported a net loss of $4.58 million, or 30 cents a share, in line with a 31-cent Thomson estimate. That contrasts with a profit of $1.92 million, or 12 cents, the year earlier. Sales fell 7.4% to $144.9 million.

Shares of San Francisco-based Sharper Image fell $3 to $10.94 in after-hours trading. The stock ended regular Nasdaq trading at $13.94, a gain of 11 cents.