J. Jill Shares Spike After Earnings And Sales Beat Expectations

J. Jill Inc. shares soared more then 13% in Wednesday trading after the women's clothing retailer reported first-quarter earnings and sales that beat expectations. The company said it had net income of $8.02 million, or 18 cents per share, up from $6.07 million, or 14 cents per share, last year. Adjusted earnings per share came to 24 cents. Sales totaled $166.1 million, up from $147.7 million last year. The FactSet consensus was for earnings of 18 cents per share and sales of $162.0 million. Same-store sales increased 9.9%. J. Jill expects second-quarter and full-year same-store sales to increase in the high-single digits. Second-quarter EPS is expected to be in the range of 26 cents to 28 cents, and adjusted EPS is forecast to be in the range of 27 cents to 29 cents. The FactSet consensus is 27 cents. Full-year EPS is expected to be in the range of 72 cents to 76 cents. Adjusted EPS is forecast to be in the 80-cent to 84-cent range. The FactSet consensus is 80 cents. J. Jill shares are down 3.4% for the past month while the S&P 500 index is up 1.2%.