Shares of Hot Topic Inc. rose Wednesday as the teen retailer reported a 2.7 percent drop in back-to-school August same-store sales. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were looking for total same-store sales to decline 5.1 percent.

City of Industry-based Hot Topic said after the market closed that same-store sales at its flagship Hot Topic stores were down 1.7 percent and the sales at its Torrid plus-size stores fell 7.6 percent.

However, total net sales, which includes sales from new stores, for the four weeks ended Aug. 30 rose 0.8 percent to $71.6 million.

Regionally, the company did best at its Texas stores and worst in the Southeast, Chief Financial Officer Jim McGinty said in a conference call.

Hot Topic shares rose 3 cents in after-hours trading, after closing up 39 cents, or 6 percent, to $6.73 on the Nasdaq. The sector was up as other retailers catering to teens and college students earlier reported they also had gotten a boost from back-to-school sales, despite a tough economic environment.