Guess Q4 results beat Wall Street view

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For the fourth quarter, the company posted net income of $55.2 million, or 59 cents a share, compared with $45.9 million, or 49 cents a share, a year earlier.

(Reuters) - Clothes and accessories retailer Guess Inc <GES.N> posted fourth-quarter profit above market estimates driven by strong sales in Europe and Asia, and backed its outlook for fiscal year 2009.

For the fourth quarter, the company posted net income of $55.2 million, or 59 cents a share, compared with $45.9 million, or 49 cents a share, a year earlier.

Net revenue rose 30 percent to $514.6 million, including product sales of $488.1 million. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 13.1 percent for the 13 week period ended February 2.

Revenue at the company's European segment rose 75 percent to $152.2 million.

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"Our international businesses remained the primary drivers of this growth, with Europe and Asia representing about two-thirds of the revenue increase and half of the operating profit growth in the quarter," Chief Executive Paul Marciano said.

Analysts on average expected earnings of 57 cents a share, before items, on revenue of $467.4 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

For the first quarter, the company expects earnings of about 44 cents to 46 cents a share, on consolidated net revenue of $445 million to $460 million.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 47 cents a share on revenue of $448 million.

For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2009, the company sees earnings of $2.35 to $2.45 a share and revenue of $1.97 billion to $2.05 billion.

Shares of the company were trading at $35 after the bell. They had closed down more than 4 percent at $34.17 Wednesday on New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Swagata Gupta in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan)