Dillard's (DDS) stock is surging 5.01% in pre-market trading on Friday, building on the momentum from Thursday's intraday rally. The significant uptick comes on the heels of the company's impressive first-quarter financial results, which substantially exceeded analyst expectations.

The department store chain reported a basic earnings per share (EPS) of $10.39 for the quarter ended April 30, comfortably surpassing the average analyst estimate of $9.14. While this represents a slight decrease from $11.09 per share in the same quarter last year, it still impressed investors given the challenging retail environment. Dillard's net income for the quarter stood at $163.8 million, with total revenue reaching $1.55 billion. Although revenue showed a marginal decline of 1.6% compared to the previous year and slightly missed the $1.54 billion forecast, the strong bottom-line performance appears to have overshadowed this.

Other key highlights from Dillard's Q1 results include a robust retail gross margin of 45.5% and operating expenses of $421.7 million. The company also reported a modest 1% decrease in comparable store sales during the quarter. Despite ongoing challenges in the retail sector, including inflationary pressures and evolving consumer behaviors, Dillard's ability to exceed earnings expectations has clearly resonated positively with investors, driving the significant stock price increase in both Thursday's intraday trading and Friday's pre-market session.