Children’s Place Grows Bearish as Consumer Spending Slows

Children’s Place (NASDAQ:PLCE) revealed a better-than-expected decline in fourth-quarter profit early Tuesday but projected disappointing current-quarter and fiscal 2013 earnings, sending its shares sharply lower in morning trade.

Citing unfavorable weather and the weak macroeconomic environment that has affected consumer spending, Children’s Place forecast earnings in the range of 60 cents to 65 cents compared with a year-earlier EPS of $1.14, on negative same-store sales.

The outlook is far below Wall Street’s consensus view of $1.20 a share.

For the full year, it anticipates adjusted earnings of $2.90 to $3.10, down from a prior-year first-quarter EPS of $3.25, and missing average analyst estimates of $3.54 a share.

Shares of Children’s Place slumped 5.5% premarket to $43.48.

The Secaucus, N.J.-based children’s apparel retailer reported net income of $19.1 million, or 80 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $23.3 million, or 93 cents.

Excluding one-time items, Children’s Place said it earned $1.15 a share, topping average analyst estimates of $1.04 in a Thomson Reuters poll.

Revenue for the three months ended Feb. 2 climbed 11.3% to $509.2 million compared with $457.5 million in 2011, beating the Street’s view of $498 million. The latest year’s quarter included an extra week in which it posted sales of $21.6 million.

Same-store sales, a key measurement of sales at stores open longer than a year, grew 4.3%.

“We continued to make significant progress during 2012 and had a strong finish to the year,” Children’s Place CEO Jane Elfers said in a statement.