Charming Shoppes Misses Where It Counts

Charming Shoppes (Nasdaq: CHRS  ) reported earnings March 27. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Jan. 28 (Q4), Charming Shoppes beat expectations on revenues and missed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue contracted slightly and GAAP loss per share shrank.

Gross margins dropped, operating margins grew, net margins expanded.

Revenue details
Charming Shoppes notched revenue of $559.1 million. The four analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected to see a top line of $544.1 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 2.9% lower than the prior-year quarter's $575.8 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at -$0.06. The four earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast -$0.02 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS were -$0.24 for Q4 compared to -$0.27 per share for the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 42.0%, 100 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was -0.3%, 100 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -2.4%, 290 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $489.1 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.17.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.93 billion. The average EPS estimate is $0.22.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 138 members out of 175 rating the stock outperform, and 37 members rating it underperform. Among 56 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 49 give Charming Shoppes a green thumbs-up, and seven give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Charming Shoppes is outperform, with an average price target of $7.33.

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