Urban Outfitters Posts Q1 Sales Beat: 3 Analysts Revise Forecasts As Stock Continues To 'Meaningfully Lag'

Shares of Urban Outfitters, Inc. URBN tanked in early trading on Wednesday, even after the company reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter.

The results came amid an exciting earnings season. Here are some key analyst takeaways.

• JPMorgan analyst Matthew Boss reaffirmed a Neutral rating, while reducing the price target from $44 to $43.
• Telsey analyst Dana Telsey reiterated an Outperform rating, while raising the price target from $48 to $49.
• BMO Capital Markets analyst Simeon Siegel maintained a Market Perform rating and price target of $42.

Check out other analyst stock ratings.

JPMorgan: Urban Outfitters reported its adjusted earnings at 69 cents per share, higher than the Street's 52 cents per share estimate, with 5% same-store sales growth versus consensus of 3.3%.

The company's adjusted gross margin expanded by 105 basis points (bps) year-on-year to 34.4%, beating expectations of 33.6%, he added.

The same-store sales outperformance was driven by "continued double-digit comp growth at Anthro (SSS +10% > Street +9%) & Free People +17% (> Street +13%), while core UO decreased 14% (< Street -13%), with mgmt citing higher merchandise markdowns at the Urban Outfitters brand as an offsetting factor to continued IMU benefits within gross margin results," Boss wrote.

Management's second-quarter guidance indicates low single-digit same-store sales growth, offset by "gross margin pressure of 75bps Y/Y (< Street +50bps) tied to incremental markdown actions required at core UO to ensure a clean inventory position entering Back to School & Holiday," he added.

Telsey Advisory Group: The earnings beat was driven by "better sales, stronger gross margin, and less SG&A deleverage than expected," Telsey said. The company's total sales grew by 7.8% to $1.201 billion, ahead of consensus of $1.179 billion, while "UO continued to meaningfully lag.”

Urban Outfitters believes "Anthro can drive MSD comp growth for the year, while UO comps could gradually improve, beginning as early as Q2," Telsey said.

Management expects gross margins to improve in the back half of the hear, "supporting the prior guide to expand 50-100 bps in FY24.”

BMO Capital Markets: "While Gross Margin came nicely ahead (of both Street/guidance) due to higher IMU (at all brands), partially offset by higher markdowns (mostly at UO) and Nuuly-driven logistics deleverage, management guided 2Q GM below," Siegel wrote in a note.

With UO continuing to underperform, management has planned initiatives like "better speed-to-market capabilities, skewing to opening-price points in women’s accessories and home, altering the marketing strategy" to drive performance through the year, he added.

URBN Price Action: Shares of Urban Outfitters had declined by 3.97% to $39.68 at the time of publication on Wednesday.

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