Talbots Inc. (NYSE: TLB), the fashion retailer that sold its J. Jill brand in the most recent quarter, is scheduled to discuss its second-quarter 2009 results Wednesday in a conference call at 10:00 AM ET, hosted by CEO Trudy Sullivan and other members of the senior management team. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.
For the three months that ended in July, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the Massachusetts-based company to report that its net loss widened from a year ago to $0.52 per share. Revenue for the quarter is expected to have fallen 39.1% to $309.3 million.
Analysts expect a smaller loss in the third quarter, but a further decline in sales. The full-year forecast is for a loss of $1.94 per share on sales of $1.2 billion, compared to a loss of $1.47 per share on sales of $1.5 billion a year ago. Talbots' losses have been deeper than expect in three of the past four quarters, but it broke that trend in the first quarter with a positive surprise of 28.3%.
The long-term EPS growth forecast is 26.0%, which is much better than that of rivals AnnTaylor (NYSE: ANN) and Macy's (NYSE: M). Short interest in Talbot's has fallen since June. The First Call consensus recommendation remains to hold TLB, but TheStreet.com expects this dividend-paying company to be one of the few winners in women's apparel due to its cost control efforts, and a Lazard Capital Markets analyst said it will likely beat Wall Street expectations.
Talbot shares are about 200% higher since the beginning of the year, but they are still about 52% lower than a year ago.
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