The Dress Barn, Inc.

The Dress Barn, Inc. (DBRN) recently announced that it is seeing strengthening business trends and projected strong third-quarter results, set to be officially released at the end of May.

Company Description

The Dress Barn, Inc., with its subsidiaries, operates a chain of women's apparel specialty stores in the United States. The company operates over 1,500 stores in 48 states and has a market cap of $901 million.

A Bullish Statement

The Dress Barn released some bullish comments on April 13 about the state of the company, saying that it is seeing positive signs in its business. Dress barn built on these statements by saying that it expects to report earnings between 30 and 32 cents per share when it officially reports its third-quarter results on May 21.

Second-Quarter Results

The statement comes on the heels of Dress Barn's somewhat disappointing second-quarter results, reported in mid February, in which the company posted a loss of 2 cents against an expected gain of 1 penny. Dress Barn noted that its margins were pressured during the period due to steep sales to clear leftover holiday inventory.

Estimates Jump

After the bullish comments, analysts raised their earnings guidance, with the current-year adding 11 cents and climbing to 88 cents per share. The next-year estimate is up 14 cents in the last week to $1.02, a bullish 17% earnings growth projection.

Valuations

Based upon the current-year estimate, this stock is trading at a premium to the overall market, carrying a P/E multiple of 17X.

The Chart

As previously mentioned, shares of DBRN have been rallying on the company's bullish statements, building on an already healthy up trend that has been in play for the last month. Take a look at the chart below.

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