Guess? Reports Beat On 3Q Earnings

Piper Jaffray has published a research report on Guess?, Inc. GES after the company reported 3Q results ahead of Piper and Consensus estimates. In the report, Piper Jaffray writes "Guess reported Q3 results ahead of our above consensus ests and declared a special dividend of $2.00/shr. Q3 EPS of $0.75 exceeded our $0.61 est and consensus of $0.59 as revenue and operating margin were better than expected. North American retail stores posted a +1.5% comp vs consensus (1%) and Europe and Asia posted double-digit revenue growth. We expect Northern Europe and China to be key drivers of growth going forward as China could eventually contribute $0.20-0.40 of incremental EPS based on relatively conservative assumptions. We are raising our Q4 and FY12 ests as mgmt raised Q4 guidance to $1.02-1.06 while our revised price target is $53." Piper Jaffray maintains its Overweight rating and has raised the price target from $51 to $53. Guess? Inc. closed yesterday at $45.34.