Vera Bradley Inc. shares fell nearly 3% in Wednesday premarket trading after it reported a first-quarter profit and sales miss and issued a profit warning for the year. The accessories company posted a net loss of $7.0 million, or 21 cents per share, after a loss of $2.1 million, or 6 cents per share, last year. An adjusted loss of 19 cents per share was wider than the FactSet consensus for a 16 cents per share loss. Revenue of $98.5 million was down from $109.1 million and below the FactSet consensus for $109.9 million. Chief Executive Rob Wallstrom said the company continued to increase prices to offset logistics and other pressures, but the company is seeing a split among customers with higher-income households spending more than last year. “[I]nflationary pressures, including rising gas prices, particularly impacted the spending of Vera Bradley full-line customers with household incomes below $55,000 as well as traffic and spending in our Vera Bradley Direct Channel factory stores for the quarter,” he said in a statement. The company will continue to evaluate pricing and expects to move forward on holiday, back-to-school and other plans. The company was also hurt by a decline in e-commerce sales at the Pura Vida jewelry business. Vera Bradley is lowering its full-year outlook and now expects revenue of $490 million to $505 million and EPS of 35 cents to 50 cents. The FactSet consensus is for revenue of $564.9 million and EPS of 61 cents. Vera Bradley stock is down 26.3% for the year to date.
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