Shoe Carnival has 4th-quarter profit

EVANSVILLE, Ind.

Shoe Carnival Inc., which sells shoes and accessories, on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter profit, helped by lower expenses and improving sales.

The company also forecast first-quarter results better than analysts are predicting, and its shares rose 8 percent.

The company's profit for the three months ended Jan. 30 totaled $2.6 million, or 20 cents per share, compared with a loss of $3 million, or 24 cents per share, in the period a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected a profit of 12 cents per share.

Revenue rose 9 percent to $170.8 million from $156.9 million last year. Analysts expected revenue of $171.5 million.

Sales in stores open at least one year, a key retail measurement, rose 8.8 percent.

For the year, the company's profit more than doubled to $15.2 million, or $1.20 per share, from $5.3 million, or 43 cents per share last year.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $682.4 million form $647.6 million.

Shoe Carnival, based in Evansville, Ind., expects a profit of 54 cents to 48 cents per share on revenue of $181 million to $183 million in the fiscal first quarter.

Analysts expect a profit of 40 cents on revenue of $174.2 million.

Shares rose $1.74, or 8 percent, to $23.62 after earlier reaching a 52-week high of $23.75. The stock had traded between $7.39 and $22.08 over the past year.