Fitness company Nautilus Inc.’s sales were down in the third quarter, but its losses were also lower than they were in the same period last year.

Vancouver, Wash.-based Nautilus in the quarter ending Sept. 30 had sales of $41.4 million, with a loss of $24.4 million, or 5 cents per share, compared with sales of $62.7 million and a loss of $34.1 million, or 71 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Analysts expected sales of $65.5 million.

For the first nine months of fiscal 2009, Nautilus had sales of $135.6 million, with a loss of $59 million, or 71 cents per share, compared with sales of $219.8 million, with a loss of $49.3 million, or $1.07 per share.

Nautilus’s stock was up 24 cents to $2.14 in after-hours trading. The stock has a 52-week range of 45 cents to $2.96.