Pier 1 Imports Inc. (NYSE: PIR) missed revenue forecasts and reported a wider-than-expected loss for the second quarter of 2020, sending shares falling over 6% in after-market hours on Wednesday. The consensus estimate was for a loss of $15.88 per share on revenue of $315.2 million.  

Net sales fell 14.3% year-over-year to $304.6 million. Comparable sales fell 12.6%, reflecting lower average customer spend, mainly due to merchandise mix changes, as well as lower store traffic.  

Net loss was $100.6 million, or $24.29 per share, compared to $51.1 million, or $12.68 per share, a year earlier.

Gross profit fell to $50.8 million, or 16.7% of net sales, from $93.5 million, or 26.3% of net sales, in the prior-year period. The decline mainly reflects increased clearance activity, as well as 240 basis points of deleverage on occupancy costs.

Cheryl Bachelder, Interim CEO, said, “The organization continues to make progress against our fiscal 2020 action plan, and we remain on track to achieve benefits of $100-110 million this year, as previously outlined. While we anticipate that our merchandising and marketing initiatives will start to gain traction during the second half, we expect a gradual recovery and believe we’ll be positioned to demonstrate year-over-year improvement in company comparable sales and gross margin rate beginning in the fourth quarter.”

Also read: Pier 1 Imports Q2 2020 Earnings Preview

At quarter-end, inventory totaled $328.6 million, down 15% from a year ago. The company operated 951 stores at the end of the quarter, a decrease of 38 from the same period last year.

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