Talbots said Tuesday that cost savings from its recent acquisition of J. Jill will be greater than anticipated, and although its latest brand was suffering from slowing sales, it planned to improve results by offering more fashions and sizes.Shares of Talbots (up $3.62 to $21.59, Charts) soared more than 20 percent in early trading after the company narrowed its loss forecast for the second quarter and announced a series of initiatives to boost sales, such as adding sale events and more styles

“This is great,” said Liz Pierce, an analyst for Sanders Morris Harris. “The cost savings is good news, the synergies are good news, Talbots is trending ahead of plan, all the ducks are lining up in a row.”

She added, however, that “while all of this sounds good, I want to see the execution at the store level, particularly at J. Jill.”

Talbots said cost savings would be more than $30 million for the year, up from its original plan for $25 million.

The company also narrowed its second-quarter net loss forecast to 8 cents to 10 cents per share, including acquisition-related costs of about 18 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimates had been looking for a net loss of 10 cents per share on average. Earlier, the company had expected a loss of 5 cents to 15 cents.

Excluding costs related to the acquisition and stock option expenses, the company is looking for earnings of 11 cents to 13 cents per share. It was not immediately clear if Reuters Estimates average earnings expectation of 7 cents per share had excluded the same items.

Talbots’ shares have lost about a third of their value since the company announced its purchase of J. Jill in February. While Talbots apparel sales have improved, the company has struggled with slowing revenue at the J. Jill stores, which are known for their clothing aimed at women age 35 and older.

“Selling trends in the J. Jill brand, which represent approximately 20 percent of the total combined company sales volume, are below expectations,” Arnold Zetcher, Talbots chairman, president and chief executive, said in a statement.

For the second half, sales at stores open at least a year are expected “in the positive low single-digit range,” yielding net earnings of 50 cents to 55 cents per share. Excluding items, such as acquisition costs and stock option expense, earnings are expected to be in the range of 77 cents to 82 cents for the combined company. This compares to the 74 cents reported last year for the Talbots-only brand.

Among plans to improve results, Talbots will add a sale event to clear out all remaining summer goods around Labor Day and push back the start of its mid-season sale to later in September to generate more gross margin dollars and promote stronger regular-price selling.

For the J. Jill brand, the company will increase its offerings of special sizes and add new styles.