Christopher & Banks Posts Narrower-Than-Expected Q1 Loss, But Revenue Drops

reported a narrower-than-expected loss for the first quarter, but the company's sales missed analysts' estimates. The Plymouth, Minnesota-based company posted quarterly loss of $1.4 million, or $0.04 per share, compared to net income of $2.6 million, or $0.07 per share, in the year-earlier quarter. Its revenue slipped to $91.6 million from $103.4 million. However, analysts were expecting a loss of $0.05 per share on revenue of $93.06 million. Its same-store sales shrank 11.7 percent in the quarter, versus a 0.2 percent decline last year. Gross margin for the first quarter narrowed to 35.2 percent from 36.7 percent. Operating loss for the quarter came in at $2.5 million, versus operating income of $2.8 million in the year-ago quarter. As of May 2, 2015, the company had cash, cash-equivalents and investments of $38.2 million. LuAnn Via, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Overall, our first quarter results were in-line with our expectations which reflected the residual impact from the West Coast port delays and unseasonably cold weather throughout certain regions in which we operate. We continued to make progress on several of our key strategic initiatives during the quarter, including optimizing our real estate portfolio and enhancing our merchandise offering." For the current quarter, Christopher & Banks projects revenue of $100 million to $103 million, versus analysts' estimates of $105.73 million. It projects full-year revenue of $416 million to $423 million, versus analysts' expectations of $426.49 million. Christopher & Banks shares fell 0.93 percent to close at $5.33 yesterday.