Retail

Lululemon soars after earnings and sales top estimates

Key Points
  • Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin recently stepped down after "falling short" of the company's "standards of conduct."
  • The athleisure brand has been focused on reclaiming its market share, with a focus on leaner inventory and growing in men's and internationally.
Lululemon beats the Street
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Lululemon beats the Street

Lululemon Athletica reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations on Tuesday, as the athleisure brand reported success on a number of its key initiatives, including its expansion into menswear, online and internationally.

The athleisure brand reported net revenue of $929 million, beating expectations of $912 million. That figure represented an increase of 18 percent since the same quarter the year prior.

It earned $120 million, or 88 cents a share for the fourth quarter, compared with $136.1 million, or 99 cents a share, a year ago. After adjusting for one-time items, it earned $1.33 per share, topping analysts' estimates of $1.27 per share.

Shares of the brand soared as much as 9 percent in after-hours trading.

Here's how the company did compared with what Wall Street expected:

  • EPS: $1.33 adj. vs. $1.27 expected, according to Thomson Reuters
  • Revenue: $929 million vs. $912 million expected, according to Thomson Reuters

Lululemon was one of the first to kick off the "athleisure" trend but had more recently seen growth slow as new competitors infiltrated.

Part of its solution has been to look for growth elsewhere. In Asia, a region increasingly focused on health, Lululemon reported quarterly comparable sales that were up 52 percent against the same quarter a year prior.

It plans to open up 15 to 20 new locations in the region in 2018.

Its men's business was up double digits. That growth was fueled by strong performance in its men's pants sales.

Its digital business was up 42 percent compared with a year prior. The brand launched a new website at the end of the third quarter.

Its core women's business also did well. It reported 19 percent growth in women's pants for the quarter.

Lululemon also provided guidance for 2018. It anticipates 2018 net revenue of $2.99 billion to $3.02 billion and diluted earnings per share of $3.00 to $3.08.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2018, the company expects net revenue to be in the range of $612 million to $617 million based on a total comparable sales increase in the low double digits on a constant dollar basis.

Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of 44 cents to 46 cents a share for the fiscal first quarter.

The earnings are the first since CEO Laurent Potdevin stepped down in February after "falling short" of the company's "standards of conduct." CNBC previously reported one of the issues contributing to his departure was a relationship with a female designer at the company.