Earnings Preview: Lululemon Athletica looks good ahead of Q4 earnings

Lululemon Athletica (LULU) will be the last firm in the retail sector that will be reporting its quarterly results in this earnings season. The athletic apparel retailer is set to report its fourth quarter and full-year 2018 results on Wednesday, March 27 after the market closes. Analysts estimate Lululemon to post earnings of $1.74 per share on revenue of $1.15 billion.

In Q3 2018, the yoga clothing maker’s adjusted earnings soared 34% to $0.75 per share and revenue grew 21% to $747.7 million, beating analysts’ views. Total comp sales increased 7%.

Also, during the third quarter earnings announcement, the company hiked its revenue and EPS guidance for the full-year 2018. Lululemon lifted its revenue outlook to a range of $3.235 billion to $3.245 billion from the prior range of $3.185 billion to $3.235 billion. Earnings guidance was raised to the range of $3.61 to $3.64 from the previous range of $3.45 to $3.53.

In January, Lululemon lifted its earnings and revenue outlook for the fourth quarter ending February 3, 2019. The company now anticipates earnings to be in the range of $1.72 to $1.74 per share versus the previous estimate of $1.64 to $1.67. Revenue is now targeted to be in the range of $1.140 billion to $1.150 billion compared to the prior outlook of $1.115 billion to $1.125 billion range.

Commenting on the uplift in the guidance, CEO Calvin McDonald said, “The momentum in our business remained strong throughout the holiday season, reflecting the ongoing success of our product offerings and our connection with guests around the globe.”

In the retail space, denim giant Levi Strauss (LEVI) returned as a public company on Thursday. Shares of the Levi jeans maker surged over 30% in its first day of trading. Also, the sneaker maker Nike (NKE) reported its Q3 results after the markets closed on Thursday. Despite the earnings beat, Nike traded in the negative territory as the company just met the revenue expectations and on lighter outlook.

Over the past year, Lululemon had surpassed Wall Street’s views in all four quarters and the stock value had surged 84%. On Thursday, shares of Lululemon climbed up 3% to $148.91. On average, analysts had set a 12-month price target of $162.89 for the stock and most of the analyst firms are bullish on the company’s stock performance.

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