Express Inc. shares surged 7% in premarket trade Thursday, after the clothing retailer beat estimates for its fiscal first quarter through April 29. The company said net income swung to a profit of $500,000, or 1 cent a share, after a loss of $2.7 million, or 3 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales rose to $479.4 million from $474.2 million. The FactSet consensus was for a loss per share of 2 cents and sales of $460 million. Same-store sales rose 1%. Gross margin improved by 200 basis points to 29.9% of sales, compared with 27.9% a year ago. "Comparable sales grew for the first time since late 2015, and for the second consecutive quarter we expanded our gross margin and increased earnings relative to the prior year," Chief Executive David Kornberg said in a statement. The company is now expecting second-quarter same-store sales to be down 1% to up 1% and for EPS to range from a loss of 2 cents to earnings of 2 cents. For all of fiscal 2018, it expects same-store sales to range from a decline of 1% to a gain of 1% and for EPS of 37 cents to 47 cents. The FactSet consensus is for second-quarter same-store sales to be flat and EPS to come in at 2 cents. For the full year, the consensus is for same-store sales to be down 0.2% and for EPS of 41 cents. Shares have gained 18% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 13%.