24/7 Wall St.

Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) reported third-quarter fiscal 2012 earnings after markets closed today. For the quarter, the sportswear retailer posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.40 on revenues of $180 million. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.45 on revenues of $154 million. Third-quarter results compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate for EPS of $0.48 on $182.3 million in revenues.

The company noted that costs related to Zumiez’s acquisition of Blue Tomato and the relocation of the company’s headquarters lowered EPS by about $0.11.

Same-store sales rose 3.7% in the third quarter.

The company’s CEO said:

Our third quarter operating results reflect softer than expected sales trends in Europe and modest comparable store sales for the post back to school period. Comp trends remained challenging in November, particularly early in the month in part due to Hurricane Sandy, however we are encouraged by the more recent sales results, with positive comps over the Black Friday weekend.

For the company’s fourth quarter, Zumiez forecast revenues of $218 to $221 million and EPS of $0.59 to $0.62. Zumiez also expects a fourth-quarter charge of approximately $0.08 per share related to the Blue Tomato acquisition. The consensus fourth-quarter estimates call for EPS of $0.71 on revenues of $222.9 million.

November same-store sales fell 4.2%, following an increase of 8.4% in November 2011. The company expects fourth-quarter same store sales to be lower by 3% to 4%.

Zumiez’s results are comparable to those reported yesterday by Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO): weak, with weakness continuing in the current quarter.

The company’s shares are down about 7% in after-hours trading today, at $19.30 in a 52-week range of $19.28 to $41.96. The consensus target price for the shares was around $27.80 before today’s report.

Paul Ausick