Payless ShoeSource Earnings Beats Estimates
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Footwear chain Payless ShoeSource Inc. (PSS) Thursday posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings due to a rise in sales and favorable pricing, sending it stock up 6.5 percent.
Earnings for the fiscal third quarter ended Oct. 29 rose to $21.9 million, or 32 cents per share, from $6.6 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding certain items, Reuters Estimates data showed the company earned 33 cents a share, surpassing analysts' average forecast of 26 cents.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The company said the latest results included pretax restructuring charges of about $1.2 million. The year-earlier results included pretax restructuring charges of $3.9 million.
Sales rose 0.8 percent to $666.9 million, compared with Wall Street expectations for $669.7 million. Same-store sales rose 3 percent.
Payless shares were up $1.33 to $21.79 on the New York Stock Exchange, their highest level in more than four years.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The shares are up 78 percent so far this year and trade at 20 times expected 2005 earnings; shares of rival Brown Shoe Co. Inc. are up 18.5 percent and trade at a multiple of 12.