Lululemon Posts Upbeat Q2 Results, Lifts Full-Year Outlook

Lululemon Athletica inc. LULU reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter and lifted its full-year outlook. The Vancouver, Canada-based company posted quarterly net income of $47.7 million, or $0.34 per share, compared to $48.7 million, or $0.33 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue climbed 16 percent year-over-year to $453 million from $390.7 million. However, analysts were projecting a profit of $0.33 per share on revenue of $445.6 million. The average estimate among 74 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.35 per share and revenue of $444.13 million. Total comparable sales, including comparable store sales and direct to consumer, surged 11 percent in the quarter. Its same-store sales increased 6 percent on a constant dollar basis in the quarter. Direct to consumer net revenue surged 30 percent to $82.2 million. Its gross profit as a percentage of net revenue narrowed to 46.8 percent in the quarter, versus 50.5 percent in the year-ago quarter. During the quarter, Lululemon repurchased 1.0 million shares of its common stock at an average cost of $63.96 per share. Lululemon ended the second quarter with $541.3 million in cash and cash equivalents, versus $725.1 million at the end of the year-ago quarter. The company ended the second quarter with 336 stores. Laurent Potdevin, lululemon's CEO said, "We exceeded our revenue targets for the past quarter, supported by strong performance from both our store and e-commerce channels. Looking to the remainder of the year, our team is laser focused on meeting our strategic key goals: grow our global collective, relentlessly innovate our product lines and continue to create transformational experiences for our guests." Lululemon now projects fiscal 2015 earnings of $1.87 to $1.92 per share on sales of $2.03 billion to $2.06 billion. The company had earlier expected earnings of $1.86 to $1.91 per share on revenue of $2 billion to $2.05 billion. For the third quarter, the company expects earnings of $0.35 to $0.37 per share on net revenue of $477 million to $482 million. Lululemon shares rose 1.48 percent to $65.00 in pre-market trading.