NEW YORK — Although the major indices got a boost last week from declining oil prices and better-than-expected sales from companies such as Hewlett-Packard Co., investor worry over slowing corporate profit growth weighed down the market.
Still, the WWD Composite Stock Index managed a 0.8 percent gain, closing the week at 1,139.42, which was outpaced by the S&P 500‘s 1.1 percent week-over-week increase to 1,248.27. Two of the top gainers for the week were Ann Taylor Stores and New York & Company Inc.
On Friday, Ann Taylor Stores posted third-quarter profits that more than doubled to more than $30 million as sales rose 11.6 percent, thanks to improved merchandise and inventory management. In the three months ended Oct. 29, the women’s specialty retailer said net profits swelled to $30.3 million, or 42 cents a diluted share, blowing away analysts’ estimates for 37 cents. Comparatively, the company earned $13.9 million, or 19 cents, a year ago.
Revenues rose to $514 million from $460.4 million last year. By division, sales rose 5.2 percent to $210 million at Ann Taylor stores, while the Loft division saw sales jump 16.9 percent to $251.9 million.
Net income in the nine months, however, fell 28.1 percent to $54.5 million, or 76 cents, compared with $75.7 million, or $1.04, a year ago. Revenues were up 9.7 percent at $1.5 billion.
Shares of Ann Taylor finished the week up 6.3 percent to $30.42.
On Thursday, specialty retailer New York & Co. reported better-than-expected results. Despite what it described as a challenging quarter, New York & Co. was able to reverse its third-quarter loss in the three months ended Oct. 29 to a profit of $4.2 million, or 7 cents a diluted share, which was 2 cents ahead of analysts’ consensus estimates. In the third quarter last year, the company had a loss of $4.6 million, or 10 cents. Revenues rose 5 percent to $254.4 million, while same-store sales declined 3.1 percent. Operating income, however, fell 52.8 percent to $8.7 million from $18.3 million.
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Year-to-date, net income for New York & Co. totaled $37.9 million, or 66 cents a diluted share, compared with a loss of $573,000, or 1 cent, in the year-earlier period. Revenues in the nine months rose 5.7 percent to $778.9 million.
Richard Crystal, chairman and chief executive officer of New York & Co., said in a written statement Thursday that, although “customer reaction to our product offerings was disappointing,” the company was “able to clear significant quantities of underperforming merchandise during the quarter and revise go-forward assortments to be more in-line with our customers’ preferences.”
Shares of the retailer closed the week up 7 percent to $16.64.
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