Urban Outfitters 1Q profit up 39 percent

Urban Outfitters 1st-quarter profit up 39 percent on stronger sales, fewer markdowns

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Urban Outfitters Inc.'s fiscal first-quarter profit increased 39 percent due to stronger sales and fewer markdowns on clothing.

Still, analysts expected faster revenue growth, and Urban shares fell in after-hours trading Monday.

The company, based in Philadelphia, operates the Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, BHLDN and Terrain brands. Its net income came to $47.1 million, or 32 cents per share, for the quarter that ended April 30. That's compared with $34 million, or 23 cents per share, for the same quarter last year. Revenue increased 14 percent, to $648.2 million from $568.9 million.

Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting the company to earn 29 cents per share on revenue of $656.5 million for the period.

The company said that its revenue from stores open at least a year rose 9 percent. This is considered a key indicator of financial performance as it strips away the effect from recently opened and closed stores, and also includes sales from the company's websites and catalogs.

The measure rose 44 percent at Free People, 8 percent at Anthropologie and 6 percent at Urban Outfitters. The company also said that it cut back on discounting, mainly because of improvements at Anthropologie.

Shares of the company dropped $1.47, or 3.3 percent, to $43.02 in after-hours trading. The company's stock fell 5 cents to close regular trading at $44.49, up 74 percent over the past 12 months.