Apparel retailer Talbots Inc. (NYSE: TLB) reported its second quarter earnings this morning, and the company showed a loss during the quarter of 25 cents per share. While this looks pretty bad at first sight, the one encouraging fact is that this was slightly above the 26 cents a share loss that analysts had expected the company to report.

The loss was much greater than the 7 cents a share the company lost during the same period last year. In early action this morning, premarket traders have pushed the stock down 4.5% following the release.

The good news is that this is the fourteenth straight quarter in a row that the company has been able to at least match analyst estimates. Te last time it missed its estimate was all the way back in its fourth quarter 2003 when it missed by 2 pennies.

Same-store sales (sales from stores open more than 12 months) dropped by 4.8% in the quarter. Chairman Arnold B. Zetcher stated that the main reason for the poor performance in the quarter was a lack of enthusiasm by shoppers towards the company's spring and summer assortments.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.