Destination Maternity sales and profit guidance cut

Destination Maternity Corporation (Nasdaq: DEST) has reported sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 ended December 31, 2012, and announced that it expects its first quarter fiscal 2013 earnings to be near the middle of its prior earnings

 guidance range and to significantly exceed last year's first quarter earnings.

"Our total sales of 135.3 million dollars for the first quarter were within our sales guidance range of 132.5 to 136.5 million provided in our November 15 press release, primarily due to our comparable sales increase of 1.9 percent, which was within our guidance range for a comparable sales change of between flat and an increase of 3 percent for the quarter. It is important to note that we estimate that our first quarter reported comparable sales increase of 1.9 percent was adversely impacted by approximately 1 percentage point due to having one less Saturday in the first quarter of this fiscal year than last fiscal year; and approximately 0.5 percentage points due to the impact on stores affected by Superstorm Sandy in late October and early November 2012,” summed up Wednesday Ed Krell, Chief Executive Officer of Destination Maternity.

Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 decreased 0.8 percent to 135.3 million dollars from 136.4 million dollars reported for the first quarter of fiscal 2012. Comparable sales (which include Internet sales) increased 1.9 percent versus a comparable sales decrease of 4.1 percent for the first quarter of fiscal 2012.

The company also said it expects its first -quarter earnings to be near the middle of its prior earnings guidance range and to significantly exceed last year's first-quarter earnings. The company's previous forecast was for earnings per share between 0.25 dollars and 0.32 dollars, while last year's earnings were 0.17 dollars per share.

On average, two analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to earn 0.30 dollars per share for the quarter.

According to the data released by the company, the decrease in total reported sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2012 was the result of decreased sales related to the “company's continued efforts to close underperforming stores, partially offset by the increase in comparable sales.”

However, Krell noted, "We are pleased with our sales performance for the first quarter of fiscal 2013, especially in light of the negative impact on our sales of both Superstorm Sandy and the adverse calendar shift, whereby we had one less Saturday in the first quarter of this fiscal year than last fiscal year. We expect our diluted earnings per share for the first quarter to be near the middle of our prior earnings guidance range of 0.25 dollars to 0.32 dollars per share that we provided in our November 15, 2012 press release, and to be significantly higher than last year's first quarter diluted earnings of 0.17 dollars per share. This represents our second consecutive quarter of achieving both a comparable sales increase and a significant increase in earnings over the prior year, showing the progress we are making in our sales-driving initiatives while maintaining strong operational and expense discipline.

"During the quarter, we opened our first 12 leased departments in buybuy Baby® stores under our broad-based partnership with Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and its subsidiary,” he reminded.