Burlington Stores Inc. raised it guidance for the current year as the off-price apparel retailer reported that its earnings rose 46% for the three-month period ended in April.

The Burlington, N.J., company's per-share earnings, excluding certain one-time items, and net sales topped expectations. Burlington is the latest off-price retailer to post strong results while shoppers continue to shy away from traditional mall-based stores.

For the fiscal year ending in January, the company raised its per-share earnings estimate to $2.68 to $2.78 and net sales growth of 7.1% to 7.6%, from its previous estimate for adjusted per-share profit of $2.62 to $2.72 and net sales growth of between 6.5% and 7.5%.

For the quarter ending July 30, Burlington forecast per-share earnings of 20 cents to 23 cents and net sales growth of 6.3% to 7.3%. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of 25 cents and revenue growth of 7% to $1.22 billion. Burlington said the quarterly outlook includes a shift of roughly two cents a share in expenses from the April quarter.

Shares rose 4.7% to $58.50 in recent premarket trading.

The operator of Burlington Coat Factory, which went public in October 2013, has been increasing its focus on women's apparel, home goods and beauty products. Burlington also has continued to build its vendor base and add more nationally recognized brands, along with efforts to remodel and refresh its store base.

For the period ended April 30, Burlington reported a profit of $37.5 million, or 52 cents a share, up from $25.7 million, a year earlier. Excluding items, adjusted per-share earnings rose to 57 cents from 41 cents. Net sales increased 8.4% to $1.28 billion.

Burlington expected per-share earnings of 44 cents to 48 cents and share and revenue growth of 6.2% to 7.2%.

Comparable sales, which include stores open at least a year and online sales, rose 4.3%.

The company's inventory at established stores fell 9%, while inventory turnover improved by 7%.

Gross margin rose 0.35 percentage point to 40.1%, which the company said offset higher sourcing costs.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 26, 2016 08:25 ET (12:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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