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Published
Mar 11, 2010
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Hot Topic fourth quarter profit in line, shares fall on first quarter EPS view

By
Reuters
Published
Mar 11, 2010

March 10 (Reuters) - Teen clothing retailer Hot Topic Inc (HOTT.O) forecast a first-quarter loss that could be wider than market estimates, partly as it expects comparable store sales to continue to fall, sending its shares down 6 percent.


Photo: www.hottopic.com

The company, which posted an in-line fourth-quarter profit, expects a same-store sales decline in the high-single-digit percentage range for the first quarter.

Hot Topic, which licenses clothing and accessories such as "Twilight" and "Alice in Wonderland," posted fourth-quarter net income of $8.0 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with $14.2 million, or 32 cents a share, a year ago.

Sales at the company -- which sells Goth-inspired clothing, as well as music and accessories -- fell 10 percent to 214.2 million.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 18 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $214.6 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company was caught holding too much Twilight saga gear and had a soft teen reception to new music releases, Wall Street Strategies analyst Brian Sozzi said in a note.

For the first quarter, it expects to post a loss of 2 cents to 5 cents a share. Analysts expected a loss of 2 cents.

Shares of the California-based company were trading at $5.50 Wednesday 10 March after the bell. They closed at $6.55 on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Mihir Dalal in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Jarshad Kakkrakandy)

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