The Container Store Group Inc. (NYSE: TCS) reported its fiscal second-quarter earnings after the markets closed Tuesday. The company had a net loss of $0.11 per share on $169.83 million in revenue, compared to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates that called for a net loss of $0.13 per share on $173.56 million in revenue. The same period from the previous year had a net loss of $0.07 per share on $173.44 million in revenue.

The company gave guidance for fiscal 2015. It expects to have earnings per share (EPS) in a range of $0.30 to $0.38 and revenues in a range of $800 million to $815 million. There are consensus estimates of $0.32 in EPS on $815.78 million in revenue.

Gross margin for this quarter was 58.5%, up 40 basis points compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2014. The Container Store retail business gross margin remained stable at 58.2%. This was due to the impact of the stronger U.S. dollar, which was offset by a shift in timing of Elfa product offers.

Kip Tindell, chairman and CEO, commented on earnings:

Our first quarter financial performance exceeded our expectations, as we delivered better than forecasted comparable store sales and improved gross margin. The implementation of our three major strategic initiatives — TCS Closets, Contained Home and POP! — remains on track, as planned, and we’re encouraged by the start of the ‘snowballing effect’ on their results. As we expected, we’ve seen that, in general, our stores with the strongest comparable store sales increases are the ones that have had TCS Closets and Contained Home the longest. In fact, if we isolate our seven Dallas-area stores, TCS Closets alone added three percentage points of incremental comparable store sales to those stores in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. We remain confident in, and are maintaining, our previously stated sales and EPS outlook for the fiscal year.

At the end of the fiscal second quarter, the company had $9.83 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared to $8.61 million in the same period from the previous year.

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Shares closed Tuesday up 1.2%, at $17.50 in a 52-week trading range of $15.49 to $27.65. Following the release of the earnings report, shares were up 8.9% at $19.05 in the after-hours. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $19.14.

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