Gap and J.C. Penney rock Wall Street

Gap shares rose Thursday 2.2 percent to 33.65 dollars as

the fashion retailer’s fourth-quarter profit rose to 351 million dollars, or 73 cents a share, from 218 million dollars, or 44 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales for the company, which also owns the Old Navy and Banana Republic chains, rose to 4.73 billion dollars from 4.28 billion a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were looking earnings of 71 cents a share on sales of 4.63 billion dollars. Comparable sales rose 5 percent.

Gap also forecast earnings of 2.52 to 2.60 dollars a share for the new fiscal year, reflecting the impact of a weaker Japanese yen. Wall Street was looking for earnings of 2.59 dollars a share. Gap also rose its annual dividend to 60 cents from 50 cents for the current year.

"Our results in 2012 were stellar in many ways, and I'm very pleased with how well our product resonated with customers," said Glenn Murphy, chairman and chief executive of Gap, in a statement.

Meanwhile, tough quarter for J.C. Penney, which same-store sales declined 32 percent in the last three months, having worsened as the year progressed. Traffic was down 17 percent in the fourth quarter, worse than the full-year decline of 13 percent, said the company on Wednesday after the market close.

Losses rose up to almost 1 billion dollars in 2012 as sales dropped to 13 billion dollars, that is a sustantial 4.3 billion less than the previous year.

On a conference call with analysts, CEO Ron Johnson reviewed the company’s progress, such as building a new management team, adding shops, improving the look of all its or cutting costs by 800 million dollars. He admitted “some mistakes” and took all responsibilities for them.