Bebe Stores Inc

Bebe Stores Inc.'s fiscal third-quarter profit doubled compared with the prior year as teens and young women continued to snap up its slinky clothes. Earnings for the quarter ended April 2 rose 103.7% to $11.1 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with $5.5 million, or 9 cents, a year earlier. Sales at the Brisbane, Calif.-based retailer rose almost 40% to $116.9 million from $83.6 million a year ago. * Leslie Earnest

Bebe Stores Inc. said fiscal fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, but it revised a forecast for the current quarter that was at the low end of Wall Street's expectations. Shares of the Brisbane, Calif.-based young women's apparel retailer fell 67 cents to $24.05 in after-hours trading after gaining $1.37 to $24.72 in regular trading. The company said its earnings for the quarter ended July 2 rose to $19.5 million, or 21 cents a share, from $8.

Women's clothing retailer Bebe Stores Inc. named Greg Scott chief executive, effective immediately, a return for the longtime apparel manager who was the Brisbane, Calif.-based company's vice president of merchandising from 1996 to 2000. The company said Scott would report directly to Chairman Manny Mashouf. Scott is returning to Bebe from Wet Seal Inc., where he was president of Arden B., one of the best-performing divisions of the troubled Foothill Ranch-based retailer.

Bebe Stores Inc. said its fiscal third-quarter net income plunged 96%, compared with the previous year, in line with analysts expectations. The Brisbane, Calif.-based retailer of clothes for young women projected fourth- quarter earnings of 3 cents to 6 cents a share, well below the 11 cents expected by a consensus of analysts from Thomson First Call. The news did not hurt the price of the company's stock, which closed at $14.99, up 21 cents, in Nasdaq trading.

Investors shaved almost 5% from the shares of Bebe Stores Inc., a California retailer that caters to young women, after the company said earnings plunged 21.5% and offered sales projections that caused at least one analyst to lower his earnings expectations for the year. Brisbane, Calif.-based Bebe said earnings fell to $5.1 million, or 20 cents a share, in its fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30. That compares with $6.5 million, or 25 cents a share, in the same period last year.

Gap Inc. on Thursday logged its first earnings gain in seven quarters but joined other California apparel retailers in lowering profit projections more than expected as shoppers looked to bag ever bigger bargains. Taking a cue from customers, many retailers have adopted a cautious mood. Among those trimming forecasts for the current quarter are Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. and Bebe Inc. of Brisbane.

Bebe Stores Inc. shares jumped 20% on Friday to their highest level in almost a year after the women's apparel retailer posted better-than-expected results and forecast fiscal first-quarter profit that could exceed Wall Street's view. Late Thursday, Bebe posted fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $22 million, or 24 cents a share, up from $19.5 million, or 21 cents, a year earlier. The results beat analysts' average expectation of 21 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Women's clothing retailer Bebe Stores Inc. on Thursday posted sharply higher fiscal second-quarter earnings but fell short of Wall Street expectations, sending its shares down 14%. Strong December sales for Bebe had raised hopes among some analysts that the retailer's earnings would come in at or above the high end of Wall Street forecasts.

A year has passed since Gregory Scott ditched Wet Seal Inc.'s Arden B. and ran off with Bebe Stores Inc. The breakup was nasty, but the honeymoon has been very nice. Bebe, which sells body-clinging clothes for young women, has been wowing Wall Street. Its profit shot up 75% to $24.3 million in its fiscal second quarter and its same-store sales climbed 29.3% in January, the 22nd consecutive monthly gain and the seventh straight month of double-digit advances.

AMONG the many symbolic moments in the history of Rodeo Drive, this was one for the books: Last week, bebe, the women's clothing maker known for $36 rhinestone camisoles, opened a mega store on the former site of Frances Klein Estate Jewels, the elegant boutique where Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra shopped for diamonds and sapphires. It wasn't exactly shocking.