Challenges remain for Zale Corp., with the news in October particularly unsettling:

• The company lost $189.5 million in the 2009 fiscal year compared with a net loss of $6.5 mil-lion in fiscal year 2008.

• The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Zale’s recent restatement of its prior financial results. The company is cooperating with the investigation.

• Kendall Law Group announced a shareholder investigation of Zale Corp. for possible securities violations.

• After release of its financial results, the company’s stock, which had been rising for most of the year, lost a quarter of its value.

• First-quarter 2010 comparable store sales were down an estimated 8 percent. That was considered encouraging compared with the 21.2 percent drop in the fourth quarter of 2009.