Christopher & Banks' loss narrowed, stock rises

The latest results at Christopher & Banks Corp. fit pretty well with investors.

On Tuesday, the Plymouth-based women's fashion retailer posted a narrower loss for its fiscal second quarter and showed that it was able to give a jolt to revenue while operating fewer stores.

As a result, Christopher & Banks shares rose 12 percent, or 72 cents, to $6.61, on the New York Stock Exchange. The company's shares have about doubled in the past year as a restructuring strategy began to show results, though they have traded off their high of $7.83 reached in mid-May.

The company reported a loss of $265,000, or one cent a share, in the three months ended Aug. 3. Analysts were expecting a loss of 2 cents a share.

Revenue was $104.2 million, just shy of analysts' estimates but up 1 percent from a year ago even though it operated fewer stores.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 7.7 percent, down from an 8.9 percent growth rate a year earlier. Even so, the gain was seen by analysts as more evidence of a recovery from a difficult three years in which the firm lost $109.3 million.

"We were pleased that for the quarter we were able to maintain our positive momentum, achieve solid financial results in a difficult retail environment and deliver our fifth consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales comparisons," CEO LuAnn Via said in a statement.

Christopher & Banks executives have been closing underperforming stores in recent months. For the full fiscal year, they said the company would operate about 8 percent fewer stores than in the previous fiscal year.

"We have developed a long-range plan, beginning with fiscal 2014, focused on driving mid-single-digit comparable store sales growth and operating margin expansion over the next three fiscal years," Via said.