PacSun posts Q3 loss from cont ops, sees Q4 loss

(Reuters) - Athletic-clothing retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc (PSUN.O) posted a quarterly loss from continuing operations hurt by a slowdown in consumer spending and forecast a fourth-quarter loss, sending its shares down 5 percent.

Retailers such as PacSun have struggled with customers spending less on non-essentials facing high gas and food costs, housing market meltdown, tighter lending conditions and the U.S. facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Pacific Sunwear posted a third-quarter loss from continuing operations of $3.5 million, or 5 cents a share, including a 6 cent goodwill impairment charge, for the three months ended November 1, compared with a net income from continuing operations of $17.1 million, or 25 cents per share, a year earlier.

Same-store sales, a key measure of retail health, fell 7 percent.

"To strengthen our financial position in this economic downturn, we are focused on reducing our inventory, capital expenditures, and other expenses," Chief Executive Sally Kasaks said in a statement.

The company sees a fourth-quarter loss of 3 cents to 8 cents a share, including a gain of 11 cents from the sale of its Anaheim distribution center.

The company, which recently rejected a sweetened buyout offer of $5 a share by smaller rival Adrenalina AENA.OB, had earlier expected fourth-quarter earnings of 34 cents to 39 cents a share, including a 23 cents a share gain from the sale of its distribution center.

PacSun competes with other teen apparel retailers, including American Eagle Outfitters (AEO.N), Children's Place (PLCE.O), Aeropostale (ARO.N) and Wet Seal (WTSLA.O).

Shares of Pacific Sunwear, which has struggled in recent years to recapture its former success with teens looking for surf-inspired looks, have fallen 91 percent this year and were trading at $1.33 in after market trade.

(Reporting by Shivani Singh in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)