Tween Brands sinks to new 52-week low on Q2 earnings miss

Tween Brands Inc. (NYSE:TWB) hit a new 52-week low this morning, losing nearly half its value in heavy trading this morning after the retailer widely missed analysts’ second-quarter estimates and two analysts downgraded its stock.

After the market closed on Tuesday, the New Albany, Ohio-based company reported a loss of $0.27 per share, or $6.7 million, while analysts polled by Thomson First Call on average had expected a loss of $0.01 per share.

The news prompted Citigroup to downgrade the stock to “sell” from “hold”  and Friedman Billings to “underperform" from “market perform.”

In an effort to improve profitability, Tween Brands said it plans to convert about 560 Limited Too stores across the country to its more “value-oriented” Justice brand. Both brands sell fashion basics and lifestyle items to seven-to-14-year old girls but the Justice brand is about 25% less expensive and has performed better in the past few months.

By mid-day more than 5 million shares had changed hands compared with an average three-month volume of 633,631. The stock is trading at $8.13, down $6.75 from Tuesday’s close. It had traded between $12.60 and $39.88 in the past year.

For more detailed price information and news stories on Tween Brands, click TWB.

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