Specialty apparel retailer, Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), reported late on Thursday fiscal fourth-quarter results that edged past analysts’ estimates.
Shares climbed 2.85% in afterhours trading.
The San Francisco, California-based company, which owns namesake brand, Banana Republic and Old Navy, also announced a 20% increase in its dividend.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, GAP Inc reported a net income of $351 million, or 73 cents a share, which represents 61% growth from $218 million, or 44 cents, in the year earlier quarter.
Revenue during the period climbed 10% to $4.73 billion from $4.28 billion, in the same period of last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, forecasted earnings of 71 cents a share on revenue of $4.63 billion.
Same-store-sales, a metric which is the most important gauge on retailer’s performance, increased 5%.
Looking ahead the current fiscal, the Company expects earnings to be in the range of $2.52 to $2.60 a share. Analysts’ consensus estimate was for earnings of $2.59. The Company cited weakness in Yen for the variation between its lower range estimate and Street’s forecast.
Lately, many retailers have provided weaker outlook on fiscal 2013 since shoppers’ wallets have been squeezed due to combination of three factors: hike in payroll taxes, increasing gas prices, and delay in tax refunds.
Last week, the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) provided downbeat outlook for the current fiscal year, while earlier this week, J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) announced steepest fall in quarterly sales despite announcing an overhaul plan about a year ago.
Kohl’s Corp.’s (NYSE: KSS) fiscal fourth quarter earnings and full-year forecast also fell short of Street’s estimate while Sears Holdings, despite posting better-than-expected results, profit plunged 17% from last year period due to markdowns as the company looked to clear stockpile of inventories.
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