The Buckle October sales comparison misses Street

The Buckle sales comparison in October rises but misses analyst expectations

• On 8:11 am EST, Thursday November 5, 2009

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) -- Teen apparel retailer The Buckle Inc. said Thursday that sales in stores open at least one year rose 4.3 percent, a smaller rise than analysts were expecting.

Total sales for the four weeks ended Oct. 31 rose nearly 11 percent to $66.6 million from $60.3 percent

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected same-store sales to rise 5.3 percent.

Sales at stores open at least a year are a key measure of retailer performance because they measure growth at existing stores rather than from newly opened ones.

For the quarter ended Oct. 31, sales in stores open at least one year rose 4.3 percent while sales rose 10 percent to $231.2 million, slightly above the $230.9 million analysts predicted.

Year to date, sales in stores open at least one year rose 9.7 percent, while total sales rose 15 percent to $623.8 million.