Investors Punish Express For Q2 Miss, Big Guidance Cut

Express, Inc. EXPR delivered worse than expected results for the second quarter. Its outlook for the third quarter and full year also came in below the estimates sending the stock down more than 25 percent in pre-market trading.

The retailer's net income for the second quarter was $10.1 million, or $0.13 a share, down from $21.0 million, or $0.25 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Street analysts expected an EPS of $0.17.

Express generated net sales of $504.8 million, down 6 percent from $535.6 million in the previous year quarter and came in below the analysts' predictions of $520.95 million. The company's comparable store sales witnessed 8 percent drop.

Related Link: Investors Might Consider A Pair Trade For Express And Chico's

President and CEO David Kornberg said, "We believe we have identified the necessary actions to position Express to regain momentum and we are moving on them. Our fall assortment is more cohesive across our wearing occasions, clearly identifying the important trends, and we are aggressively pursuing several marketing initiatives focused on driving new customer acquisition and retention."

Moving ahead, the retailer expects EPS of $0.09-$0.15 for the third quarter, which is sharply below than the Street estimates of $0.32 a share. The company expects comparable sales to record negative high single to low double digits in the same period.

For the full year, Express expects adjusted EPS to be $1.00 $1.14 on negative comparable sales of high single digits. Street is looking for an EPS of $1.46 for the same period.

Shares of the company traded down by $4.21, or 26.26 percent, to $11.82 in the pre-market on Wednesday.