Aeropostale Earnings Fall Nearly 70%

Teen clothing retailer Aeropostale Inc forecast spring-quarter profits below estimates, sending its shares down 1.8 percent in afterhours trade.

Aeropostale sells more affordable clothes than its peers Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters Inc .

For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 28, Aeropostale said it earned 26.1 million, or 32 cents a share, down from $83.8 million, or 95 cents last year.

After adjusting for store impairment charges, it earned 44 cents a share, while analysts were expecting 38 cents a share, as per Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For Black Friday, the important sales day that follows Thanksgiving in late November, Aeropostale marked down prices by about 60 percent on its merchandise, much more than Abercrombie and American Eagle.

Sales fell 4 percent to $808.4 million.

Aeropostale said it expects to earn between 8-10 cents a share in the first quarter. Analysts, on average, were expecting 12 cents.

Shares of the company were down at $18.61 in afterhours trade, having closed at $18.95 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange in regular trade.