Guess earnings top Q3 forecasts, offers rosy outlook

Total net revenue for the third quarter decreased 1.0% to $522.8 million, which also topped expectations. The company also said same-store sales decreased 3.4% from a year ago.

CEO Paul Marciano said, "Our third quarter financial results exceeded our expectations. Each of our businesses performed better than expected in both revenues and earnings, as our customer continued to respond well to our product assortment in all markets around the world." He continued, "As we look into the future, we will continue to fund key growth initiatives and invest in our infrastructure. International expansion remains a high priority for us."

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, Guess forecast earnings per share in the range of $0.77 to $0.80 on revenues of $585 million to $605 million. For the full fiscal year, earnings per share are expected to range from $2.45 to $2.48 and revenues to range from $2.07 billion to $2.09 billion.

The company also announced that its board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per share on the company's common stock, the same as in the previous quarter.

After closing down 1.1% to $37.05 Monday, shares shot up more than 6% in afterhours trading.