Bon-Ton Stores Inc., the department store chain that lost 73 percent of its market value last year, had the biggest two-day gain in its history as the retailer said it may generate as much as $70 million in cash this year.

Bon-Ton rose 18 percent to $8.24 at the close of New York trading, capping a 57 percent run in the past two days, the best performance since its initial public offering in 1991. The stock has more than tripled since dipping to a $2.71 close on Jan. 6.

The company, operator of the Bon-Ton, Bergner’s and Carson Pirie Scott department stores, is seeking to lure customers with trendier clothes, and saw positive results from a pilot program tested in 2011, Chief Executive Officer Brendan Hoffman said in an earnings statement yesterday. Hoffman, the former head of Lord & Taylor LLC, was hired as CEO of York, Pennsylvania-based Bon-Ton this year.

Bon-Ton operates 272 department stores in the U.S. Northeast, Midwest and Great Plains, according to the statement. Net income in the fourth quarter ended in January fell to $78.2 million, or $4 a share, from $85 million, or $4.41, a year earlier.