Gymboree Earnings Triple in Third Quarter

Children’s retailer Gymboree Corp. said Wednesday that third-quarter earnings tripled on strong sales growth.

Gymboree earned $12.6 million, or 39 cents a share, up from $4.2 million, or 13 cents, a year earlier. Revenue grew 14% to $177.1 million. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 10%.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 37 cents a share on sales of $176 million.

Gymboree predicted fourth-quarter per-share earnings of 37 cents to 39 cents from continuing operations and full-year profit of 81 cents to 83 cents a share. Analysts expect quarterly profit of 39 cents a share and 2005 earnings of 81 cents a share.

For 2006, the company forecast profit of $1.03 to $1.09 a share, excluding a reduction of 8 cents to 10 cents a share for stock-based compensation.

The San Francisco company’s shares rose 42 cents to $20.04 in after-hours trading after the release of earnings. Earlier, they had increased 52 cents in regular trading.