Vera Bradley (NASDAQ: VRA) reported Q3 EPS of $0.12. Revenue for the quarter came in at $97.7 million versus the consensus estimate of $101.68 million.

Robert Wallstrom, Chief Executive Officer, noted, “During the quarter, we continued to successfully execute against our Vision 20/20 strategy, our comprehensive plan to strengthen our brand and financial health by substantially lowering clearance sales and reducing our expense structure. We lowered our clearance selling by over 70%, and our full-price business once again grew by double digits over last year. As a result, we are especially pleased with our year-over-year third quarter gross margin rate improvement.

“Third quarter earnings were modestly below our expectations, primarily due to revenues at the low end of our guidance and a gross margin rate that was slightly below our guidance. Higher-than-expected shipping costs offset some of our margin expansion, which brought our overall margin rate modestly under guidance. SG&A expenses were in line with expectations.”

Wallstrom continued, “As we dramatically adjusted the level of clearance on verabradley.com and in our full-line stores, we expected that sales performance this year could be a bit inconsistent. While softer than expected October sales affected third quarter performance, we were pleased to see strong performance over Black Friday weekend and on Cyber Monday, particularly as we focused more on full-price selling and less on clearance. Customers responded to our simplified and more impactful promotional messaging and our focus on key items over the holiday weekend.”

Wallstrom added, “We have made excellent progress on Vision 20/20 over the last several quarters. During the last nine months, we have reduced clearance activity on verabradley.com and in our full-line stores by over 70% and increased our full-price selling in these channels by approximately 20%. Product innovation and newness are driving our brand appeal, and we have meaningfully reduced SG&A expenses through diligent expense management. We have also increased our year-over-year cash and investment balances by over $20 million to $131.6 million.”

GUIDANCE:

Vera Bradley sees FY2019 EPS of $0.57-$0.60. Vera Bradley sees FY2019 revenue of $412-417 million, versus the consensus of $415.87 million.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Vera Bradley (VRA) click here.