Bon-Ton 4Q Profit Tops Street as Retailer Ramps Up Marketing Efforts

Bon-Ton Stores (NASDAQ:BONT) revealed mixed fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday with EPS besting Wall Street expectations amid new marketing efforts.

The York, Pa.-based department-store chain reported net income of $74.4 million, or $3.71 a share, compared with a year-earlier $78.2 million, or $4 a share. The results trumped average analyst estimates of $3.57 in a Thomson Reuters poll.

Revenue for the three months ended Feb. 2 increased 3.2% to $1.02 billion from $983 million a year ago, missing the Street’s view of $1.04 billion. Same-store sales, a measure of sales at stores open longer than a year, edged up 1%.

“We sequentially improved the business each quarter through a number of key initiatives, including a better balanced merchandise assortment, more disciplined inventory management, enhanced marketing efforts and upgrades to our eCommerce business,” said Bon-Ton CEO Brendan Hoffman.

For fiscal 2013, Bon-Ton sees EPS in the range of 40 cents to $1, bracketing the consensus view of 83 cents a share, on same-store sales growth of 2% to 3.5%.

“We believe we laid the foundation in 2012, which we intend to enhance with new strategies, paving the way for sustainable long-term growth,” Hoffman said.

Shares of Bon-Ton climbed nearly 3% in early trading to $12.40.