Investing.com -- Shares in Guess fell mildly in after-hours trading, after the Los Angeles-based upscale clothing brand and retailer's better than expected quarterly earnings coincided with lower revenue and a subdued outlook for the remainder of the year.
Guess, which operates more than 700 retail stores worldwide, reported profits of $3.3 million during the quarter or earnings per share of 0.04, above a loss of $2.1 million and an EPS of negative 0.03 during the same period in 2014. Analysts had predicted a loss of 0.05 for the quarter.
Guess CEO Paul Marciano attributed the strong quarter to improvements in the company's women's line as well as gains with its e-commerce sales.
"Overall first quarter results were better than our expectations, mainly driven by tight expense management. In North America, we saw improvements in the women's category, and delivered another quarter of good performance with comp sales up in the mid-single digits," Marciano said in a statement. "Our e-commerce business continued to experience solid top-line growth of almost 14%. In Europe, our retail stores performed above expectations and delivered positive comps."
The company's revenue fell 8% overall during the quarter, weighed down by a 14% dip in Europe and 9% in Asia in U.S. currency. For the second quarter, Guess expects its revenue to decline 1.5 to 3.5% as currency headwinds could produce a negative impact of nearly 10%, according to the company.
"We are very encouraged by the first quarter performance and early reads on the second quarter, and we will continue to focus on executing on our strategic initiatives aimed at improving the Company's profitability," Marciano added.
Shares in Guess inched down 0.11 or 0.59% to 18.55 in after-hours trading. Earlier, Guess shares closed up 1.10 or 6.26% ahead of the earnings report.