AnnTaylor Beats The Street (ANN)

Women's specialty retailer AnnTaylor ANN reported strong first-quarter earnings before the bell this morning and shares are moving higher. The company reported earnings of 38 cents per share, beating the consensus estimate of 35 cents per share. Revenues also topped expectations rising 11.6% year-over-year to $476.2 million versus the $475 million consensus. Leaner inventories along with stronger sales helped boost gross margins by 3.9 percentage points to 59.4 percent. The company expects gross margin improvement to continue in the current quarter, forecasting a 2.5 percentage point increase over a year earlier to 52.4 percent. Shares of AnnTaylor are up $1.73, or 8.55%, to $21.96 on the day.