Francesca's shares down 11% premarket as sales and guidance fall short

Francesca's Holdings Corp. shares FRAN, +2.35%slid 11% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the company's first-quarter sales and second-quarter guidance fell short of estimates. The Houston-based women's apparel retailer said it had a net loss of $3.9 million, or 11 cents a share, in the quarter, after earnings of $4.

3 million, or 12 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales fell 7% to $100.4 million. The FactSet consensus was for a loss of 11 cents a share and sales of $101 million. Chief Executive Steve Lawrence said the numbers were generally in line with the company's expectations. "Performance in our apparel business picked up at the tail end of the quarter when temperatures around the country warmed up and our newer product started to land," he said in a statement. "We are pleased to see this improvement in trend extend into May." The company is now expecting second-quarter sales of $119 million to $122 million and EPS of 2 cents to 5 cents. The FactSet consensus is for sales of $121 million and EPS of 21 cents. Shares have fallen 16.7% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.45%has gained 2.7%.