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Build-a-Bear climbs after 1st-quarter results beat estimates
Friday April 25, 2:18 pm ET
Build-a-Bear stock rises after 1st-quarter results beat analyst expectations

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Build-a-Bear Workshop Inc., which sells customer-personalized stuffed animals, rose Friday after the company reported first-quarter results above analyst expectations.
In afternoon trading Friday, the stock added $1.13, or 12.6 percent, to $10.13. The stock has traded between $7.89 and $31.19 during the past 52 weeks.

On Thursday, the company said quarterly profit fell 21 percent to $6.4 million, or 32 cents per share. The results include a charge of a penny per share associated with reviewing strategic alternatives. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 27 cents per share.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $123.8 million from $116.8 million. Analysts expected revenue of $121 million.

Build-a-Bear said U.S. results were hurt by a weak consumer environment but European results improved.

Same-store sales, or sales in stores open at least one year, fell 10.5 percent, including a 13.1 percent decline in North America and a 14.5 percent rise in Europe. It is the first time the company reported same-store sales in Europe.

Build-a-Bear said it will slow new store growth in 2008 and will open 25 new company-owned stores -- 20 in North America and five in Europe -- compared with 39 last year.

On Friday, Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst David Schick wrote in a client note that results were helped by expense control in a difficult retail environment.

"A slower growing, Internet-focused Build-a-Bear could get meaningful multiple expansion over time; however, there is not enough evidence of this emerging in the near term," he wrote. He kept his "Buy" rating and $17 price target on the stock.