Urban Outfitters shares up after-hours

Urban Outfitters Inc.'s shares jumped in after-hours trading Monday after the retailer disclosed in a regulatory report that sales are doing well in its current quarter.

The retailer, which operates Anthropologie, Free People and its namesake stores, reported its third-quarter results in November, which fell just short of market expectations.

CEO Richard Hayne said then that the company expected better sales for the fourth quarter and the holiday season.

The company put a measure to that forecast Monday in a regulatory filing, saying that so far during the fourth quarter sales in stores open at least a year are increasing in the high single-digit range. That is a key measure of a retailer's financial performance since it strips away the impact of recently opened or closed stores.

The holiday shopping season can be a make-or-break period for many retailers, particularly in a tough economy when shoppers are more fickle about where they spend their limited budgets.

Urban shares soared $2.62, or 7.1 percent, in after-hours trading to $39.62.