Top Performer for Wednesday: Borders (BGP)

Borders Group, Inc. (BGP - Snapshot Report) continues to feel the bite of this economic slowdown, but has significantly cut costs and was able to report a fiscal first-quarter loss that was narrower than the consensus.

As a result, shares of the bookseller are up nearly 14% today, making it one of the top-performing Zacks #1 Rank companies. Volume is higher than normal at 1.5 million, compared to the average of 810,000.

Fiscal Q1 Buoyed by Financial Structure

BGP reported a loss from continuing operations of 27 cents in the quarter, which was far better than the consensus' loss estimate of 50 cents. This marks the second consecutive quarter of better-than-expected results for the company.

However, sales dropped by approximately 12%.

The company continues to strengthen its financial structure through improvements to cash flow, debt and adjusted EBITDA. Despite these moves though, BGP understands that its health ultimately depends on selling books and other products.

"We know that we cannot save our way to prosperity," said CEO Ron Marshall. "Our long-term success will come from doing a much better job of driving sales and that's where our focus is right now."

Narrower Losses Expected

There are only 2 analysts covering BGP at the moment, and, collectively, they see a loss of 19 cents per share for this fiscal year, ending January 2010. However, just 7 days ago, the loss estimate was 50 cents, accounting for a sharp narrowing of 31 cents.

Next year's loss estimate has also shrunk significantly in that time to a deficit of 6 cents from a deficit of 40 cents.

More Retail

For the third consecutive day, a retail company has been featured as the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performer. However, it is important to note that all 3 companies are very different types of retailers.

BGP is part of the retail-misc/div industry. There are 2 other companies from that space on today's Zacks #1 Rank List, which includes 225 stocks. The other two are Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. (DKS - Snapshot Report) and Jo-Ann Stores Inc. (JAS - Snapshot Report).