Shares of Men's Wearhouse (MW.N) rose 21 percent on Thursday March 12th, a day after the clothing retailer posted a narrower-than-expected fourth-quarter loss.

www.menswearhouse.com

The company's quarterly results were helped by lower selling, general and administrative expenses and it forecast earnings for the first half of 2009 in line with analysts' estimates.

"We believe increased unit sales and already implemented expense reductions will likely preserve fiscal 2009 earnings power, with significant upside possible on modest macro improvements," Webush Morgan Securities analyst Betty Chen said.

Chen upgraded Men's Warehouse to "hold" from "sell" and raised her price target on the stock by $2 to $10.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Richard Jaffe expects the company to gain market share as department store chains Macy's Inc (M.N), Dillard's Inc (DDS.N) and Nordstrom Inc (JWN.N) let their suit inventories thin.

Jaffe upgraded Men's Wearhouse stock to "buy" from "hold" and set a $14 price target.

Shares of the Houston-based company were trading up $2.23 at $13.10 Thursday morning on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Isheeta Sanghi in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal)