FILE- In this June 5, 2017, file photo, people walk near an entrance to a Lululemon Athletica store on Newbury Street in Boston. Lululemon Athletica Inc. reports earnings on Wednesday, March 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
Republished March 27, 2019 - 4:02 PM
Original Publication Date March 27, 2019 - 1:31 PM
VANCOUVER - Lululemon Athletica Inc. shares rallied in extended trading Wednesday after the athleisure retailer posted better-than-expected results and issued a positive outlook.
The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said it earned net income of $218.5 million, or $1.65 per share, in the fourth quarter. Earnings, adjusted for pretax expenses, came to $1.85 per share.
The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.74 per share.
The athletic apparel maker posted revenue of $1.17 billion in the three months ended Feb. 3, up 26 per cent from a year earlier and also surpassing Street forecasts of $1.15 billion.
Sales at stores open at least a year, a key metric of a retailer's health, rose 6 per cent. Excluding the effect of currency changes and the 53rd week in fiscal 2018, same-store sales surged 17 per cent.
For the year, the company reported profit of $483.8 million, or $3.61 per share. Revenue was reported as $3.29 billion.
For the current quarter ending in May, Lululemon expects revenue in the range of $740 million to $750 million. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $745 million.
The company expects full-year earnings to be $4.48 to $4.55 per share, with revenue ranging from $3.7 billion to $3.74 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast earnings per share of $4.41 per share on revenue of $3.72 billion.
Lululemon also said its board authorized the repurchase of up to $500 million in stock.
Shares rose more than 10 per cent to $162.40 in late trading. The stock is up 21 per cent since the beginning of the year.
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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on LULU at https://www.zacks.com/ap/LULU
News from © The Associated Press, 2019