Zumiez shares rise ahead of August sales report

Its stock gained $1.13, or 7.4 percent, to $16.43. The stock has traded between $11.80 and $53.99 during the past year, and is off 33 percent since January.

The Everett, Wash.-based company reports August sales in stores open at least one year, a key retail metric known as same-store sales, after the market closes on Wednesday.

William Blair & Co. analyst Sharon Zackfia said shares were likely up because investors believe the company will report better same-store sales than analysts have predicted.

According to a poll by Thomson Reuters, analysts, on average, expect August same-store sales to fall 3.3 percent.

When Zumiez released its second-quarter results on Aug. 21 it said it expects third-quarter same-store sales would be down in the mid single digit percentage range. However, the company also said that so far that month the company had been doing "significantly" better than that.

"It doesn't look like the consensus really listened to that," said Zackfia who rates the company "Market Perform." "If they maintained the trend they had in the first half of the month they're probably going to beat consensus."