AnnTaylor Dec same-store sales down; outlook cut

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AnnTaylor Stores Corp (ANN.N) cut its full-year profit forecast on Thursday, after December same-store sales fell a worse-than-expected 9.4 percent, hurt by declines at both its namesake and LOFT chains.

The retailer of professional women's clothes expects to earn between $1.80 and $1.85 per share in fiscal 2007. It had previously expected earnings of $2.05 to $2.15 per share.

Analysts, on average, expect full-year earnings of $2.07 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Same-store sales, which estimate sales at stores open at least a year, fell 13.9 percent at its namesake stores and fell 7 percent at LOFT stores.

Analysts had expected an overall same-store sales decline of 1.8 percent.

Both divisions suffered weak customer traffic in December. The company also cut prices to clear out inventory, which ended up hurting its margins.

Net sales for the five-week period ended January 5 fell 3.8 percent to $263.7 million.

(Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman and Martinne Geller; editing by John Wallace/Derek Caney)