Shares of Guess Inc. have been steadily declining for more than a year and expectations for the company are low enough that even a lackluster earnings report was enough to send Guess’ stock soaring Thursday.

Shares of the downtown Los Angeles clothing company jumped 16 percent to $19.42 on Thursday after the company reported quarterly earnings that, while sharply lower than a year ago, still beat the expectations of Wall Street analysts.

Guess reported net income of $55.6 million (63 cents a share) for the quarter ended Jan. 31, beating analysts’ estimates of 58 cents a share. Still, the results were down about 23 percent from the same period a year ago, when the company reported earnings of $71.1 million (82 cents a share.)

Analysts said the company was hurt in the quarter by a stronger U.S. dollar and slower holiday sales. Revenue for the quarter was $697 million, slightly below analysts’ estimates of $705 million.