UPDATE 1-Dress Barn Q2 beats, raises 2010 earnings view

* Q2 adj. EPS $0.37 vs est. $0.29

* Raises 2010 EPS view to $1.55-$1.60

* FY10 EPS view assumes mid-single increase in comp sales

March 1 (Reuters) - Women's clothing retailer Dress Barn Inc DBRN.O swung to a second-quarter profit that beat market expectations, and said it was raising its 2010 earnings view based on an estimated mid-single digit increase in same-store sales.

The company, which also operates the Maurices and Dress Barn brands, said it expects 2010 earnings of between $1.55 and $1.60 a share.

Analysts on average were expecting 2010 earnings of $1.53 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the second quarter ended Jan. 23, the Suffern, New York-based company reported net income of $21.7 million, or 28 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $1.8 million, or 3 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain charges, Dress Barn earned 37 cents a share. Analysts were looking for earnings of 29 cents a share.

Earlier this month, Dress Barn reported a 73 percent jump in quarterly sales. Same-store sales, a key metric of retail health, also rose 10 percent during the quarter.[ID:nWNAB2970]

In January, the company said it expects to earn $1.40 a share to $1.50 per share for fiscal 2010. [ID:nSGE60A0KP]

Dress Barn shares, which touched a near four-year high Monday on Nasdaq, closed at $25.73.

For the alerts, double-click [ID:nWNAB3593] (Reporting by Shradhha Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)