Chico's 4Q profit rises 21 pct on sales jump

FORT Myers, Fla. — Women's clothing retailer Chico's FAS Inc. said Wednesday its fiscal fourth-quarter profit jumped 21 percent because of higher sales and a recent acquisition.

The results beat Wall Street predictions and the company issued a rosy 2012 sales guidance. Shares of Chico's jumped 15 percent in midday trading.

For the quarter ended Jan. 28, Chico's earned $25.1 million, or 15 cents per share, up from $20.7 million, or 12 cents per share, in the same period the year before. Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 11 cents per share, according to a FactSet poll.

Revenue rose 20 percent to $569.2 million from $475 million, while analysts polled by FactSet expected $547.2 million in revenue.

Revenue at stores open at least a year, a key retail metric, rose 8.7 percent as the number of sales and customers' average amount spent both increased. The measure excludes the effect of new stores, which often have a steep ramp-up in sales.

The revenue measure rose 5.5 percent at Chico's and Soma Intimates stores, and gained 15.4 percent at the company's White House Black Market stores, which targets younger shoppers than Chico's.

Stores aimed at women in their 30s, 40s and older had a more difficult time recovering from the recession than other retail sectors.

The company said that it was able to sell more clothes at full price at White House Black Market and Soma.

Women's clothing chain Boston Proper, which Chico's bought in September, added $28.5 million in sales during the quarter.

The company said it expects revenue in the year ending in January 2013 of about $2.5 billion, benefiting from a 53rd week in its fiscal year and more store space. The company also expects revenue at stores open at least a year to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage.

Analysts were expecting revenue of $2.43 billion.

In 2011, revenue rose 15 percent to $2.2 billion from $1.9 billion in 2010. Annual net income rose to $140.9 million, or 82 cents per share, from $115.4 million, or 64 cents per share.

Chico's shares rose $1.97 to $14.78. They're up 10 percent over the past three months.