Earnings Preview For Christopher & Banks (CBK)

Christopher & Banks Corp. CBK reports 2011 fiscal fourth-quarter earnings after the closing bell on Thursday, April 14. Analysts expect the company to lose $0.48 per share on sales of $99.60 million. Earnings estimates have fallen $0.17 over the past month. Expectations are low for the fourth quarter since the company pre-announced worse-than-expected results in early-April. The company marked down merchandise in order to clear its holiday lines and gross margins fell as well. The question is whether or not the bad news is priced into the stock at these levels. A positive view of the future could spur some buying post-announcement. The stock has been flat this year as investors have worried about sluggish sales and earnings growth. The company has exceeded estimates in three of the past four quarters, but is still expected to post a loss for the current year of $0.29 per share. It is a small cap stock with a market capitalization of $226.39 million and trades about 246,000 shares per day on the NYSE. The company operates as a retailer of women's apparel in the United States. The company offers women's apparel in sizes 4 to 16, and petite sizes under Christopher & Banks brand; and sizes 14W to 26W under C.J. Banks brand. Its stores provide knit tops, woven tops, jackets, sweaters, skirts, denim bottoms, and bottoms of other fabrications, as well as jewelry for women ranging from 40 to 60 years of age.