Gordmans Stores Shares Plunge on Weak Outlook

Shares of Gordmans Stores (NASDAQ:GMAN) opened 28% lower Friday as investors continued to digest its bleak fiscal outlook from the prior evening.

The Omaha-based low-price retailer forecast 2011 earnings late Thursday in the range of $1.18 to $1.23 on sales between $553 million and $557 million. Wall Street was expecting earnings of $1.34 a share on revenue of $570.5 million.

For the second quarter, Gordmans predicts earnings in the range of 10 cents to 11 cents a share on sales between $116 million and $117 million, both short of analyst estimates of 20 cents a share on revenue of $123.4 million.

“While our second quarter comparable store sales trend is consistent with that of the first quarter, it continues to be below our previous expectations,” said Jeff Gordman, the company’s chief executive. “Although we are implementing a number of merchandising, marketing and inventory management initiatives to drive comparable store sales growth, we believe it is prudent to lower our expectations for fiscal 2011 until improved trends begin to materialize.”

The sell-off comes a day after the retailer booked a 5.2% improvement in first-quarter sales to $117.7 million, compared with $111.9 million a year ago. The results fell short of average analyst estimates polled by Thomson Reuters of $120.5 million.

While comparable store sales climbed 15.4% during the period, Gordman said the results were below the company’s expectations primarily due to soft Easter sales and macro issues impacting its Midwest region. Total sales climbed on new stores in Minneapolis.

Net income was up 14.2% to $7.3 million, or 38 cents a share, compared with $6.4 million, or 2 cents a share, in the same quarter last year, beating the Street’s view of 36 cents.