Guess Inc. (NYSE: GES) shares rose 12.2% to $44.99 a day after the clothing retailer reported first-quarter earnings that beat analysts forecasts. Volume for the stock was 4.1 million shares or quadruple its full-day average.

Wednesday, the Company reported net earnings of $42.7 million, a 15.2% decrease compared to net earnings of $50.3 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2011. Diluted earnings per share decreased 14.8% to $0.46, compared to $0.54 for the prior-year quarter. The current quarter’s earnings per share include $0.09 in net unrealized mark-to-market charges related to foreign currency contracts and balances, while the prior-year quarter’s earnings per share included a $0.04 charge related to the acceleration of pension cost amortization.

Revenues jumped across all operating sectors, with Asian revenues increasing 24%, European revenues growing 12%, North American retail revenues surging 5%, and North American wholesale revenues spiking 7%. Total net revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 increased 9.8% to $592.2 million from $539.3 million in the prior-year quarter. In constant dollars, total net revenue increased 7.9%.

Guess CEO Paul Marciano commented, “We are pleased with our first quarter performance, with all of our businesses delivering earnings within or beyond our previous expectations. We continued to expand the global presence of the Guess? brand, with each of our segments growing in the quarter.

“Europe and Asia continued to drive that expansion, individually delivering double digit revenue increases, which combined to represent almost two-thirds of the Company’s top line growth. Our team executed well, managing costs and inventories tightly, which produced an operating margin that was two full points stronger than our previous expectations.”