Urban Outfitters Shares Rally After Sales, Earnings Beat

Shares of Urban Outfitters, Inc. rose more than 17% late Tuesday after the retailer reported fiscal second-quarter 2018 sales and per-share earnings above Wall Street expectations. Urban Outfitters said it earned $50 million, or 44 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $77 million, or 66 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Total net sales reached $873 million, down 2% from $891 million a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 37 cents a share on sales of $862 million. Comparable retail segment net sales fell 4.9%, which the company attributed to "negative retail store sales," offset in part by continued sales growth in direct-to-consumer sales. Wholesale segment net sales rose 10%. The shares had ended the regular session down 5.1%.