Gap third-quarter profit and sales beat estimates

Clothing retailer Gap Inc on Thursday reported quarterly results that beat estimates, driven by turnaround efforts to revive its Gap and Old Navy brands, and the clothing retailer raised its 2017 earnings and same-store sales forecasts.

The company’s shares rose nearly 7 percent to $29.30 in extended trading on Thursday.

Gap, like many other apparel retailers, had witnessed declining fortunes across its categories due to changing habits of consumers and an affinity to online shopping.

In response, the company has been stepping up investments to refresh its underperforming lines, spruce up online offerings and shorten the time taken to replenish clothes at its Old Navy and Athleta stores.

“All of our brands (are) beating industry store traffic in Q3,” Chief Executive Art Peck said on a post-earnings call.

Same-store sales at its low-cost Old Navy brand, Gap’s biggest revenue contributor, rose 4 percent in the reported quarter, beating analysts’ estimate of a 2.5 percent rise, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company also reported a 1 percent same-store sales growth for its namesake brand. Comparable store sales at its struggling Banana Republic brand fell 1 percent.

Overall same-store sales rose 3 percent in the third quarter, while analysts were expecting it to rise 1.01 percent.

Excluding items, the company earned 58 cents per share on sales of $3.84 billion. Analysts had expected the company to earn 54 cents and sales of $3.76 billion.

Gap raised its full-year adjusted profit forecast to $2.08 to $2.12 per share from its previous estimate of $2.02 to $2.10 per share.

The company also said it expects its 2017 same-store sales to be up low-single digits from its previous expectation of flat to up slightly.