Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) reported second-quarter fiscal 2014 results before markets opened Thursday. The specialty retailer posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.19 on revenues of $890.6 million. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.16 on revenues of $945.7 million. Second-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.11 and $909.22 million in revenues.

Same-store sales in the United States fell 9% and direct-to-consumer sales rose 5% for a combined decline of 5%. Same-store sales internationally fell 16%, while direct sales rose 21%, for a combined decline of 9%. Same-store sales for the company fell 11%, direct sales rose 11% and combined sales fell 7%. Gross margin slipped from about 63.9% year-over-year to 62.1%.

Abercrombie maintained its fiscal year guidance calling for EPS in a range of $2.15 to $2.35. The company did not provide guidance for the third quarter, but the consensus calls for EPS of $0.74 on revenues of $1.01 billion. The consensus EPS estimate for the second quarter was $0.18 before being lowered.

The guidance assumes that full-year same-store sales will fall by a mid-single digit amount, compared with the prior year. Gross margin is also expected to be lower. Abercrombie now expects to open 14 (down from 15 at the end of the first quarter) full-price stores during the year and approximately eight to 10 international and U.S. outlet stores. About 60 stores will be closed.

The company’s CEO said:

In a continued challenging environment, our sales for the second quarter were somewhat below plan, but we have seen modest improvement since the Back-to-School floorset. We are confident that the evolution of our assortment will drive further improvements going forward, in particular as we move past the headwind of adverse likes in our logo business as we work to strategically reduce that element in our assortment.

Shares traded down about 6% to $41.51 in Thursday’s premarket, in a 52-week range of $31.14 to $45.50. The consensus target price for the shares was around $44.80 before the report.

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