Last night after the closing bell, Coldwater Creek (NASDAQ: CWTR) released its earnings for the first quarter. Net income rose 4% at the women's apparel retailer, hitting $12 million, or 13 cents per share. Revenue, meanwhile, spiked 31% to $281.3 million. Both of these figures topped analysts' expectations; the consensus estimate called for per-share results of eight cents on $264.5 million in revenue.
Same-store sales were 7.3% higher, while total sales jumped 44% to $184.9 million. Catalog net sales were off 1.7%, but internet sales jumped up 18.5%.
CWTR shares surged in after-hours trading, jumping more than 13% to overcome the $23.50 mark. Should this move materialize in today's market action, it would effectively lift the stock to a new five-month high, closing the bear gap created in mid-January. A move above the 23 region would also force the shares above their 10-month and 20-month moving averages, trendlines that have acted as technical resistance during the past five months.
Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
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