Buckle 4th-quarter beats Wall Street estimates

Clothes and accessories retailer Buckle Inc (BKE.N) posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by higher comparable store sales and growing online demand.

The company -- which sells products under its BKE label as well as third-party brands like Guess, Diesel and Ed Hardy -- targets fashion-conscious young shoppers and has been benefiting from strong demand for its trendy jeans and footwear.

Image: Buckle.com

Fourth-quarter profit came in at $56.1 million, or $1.18 a share, compared with $49.5 million, or $1.05 a share, last year.

Sales rose 11 percent to $337.1 million.

Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of $1.14 a share, on revenue of $335.2 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Same-store sales were up 8 percent, while online sales jumped nearly 31 percent.

Shares of Kearney, Nebraska-based Buckle closed at $47.88 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Ranjita Ganesan; Editing by Viraj Nair)