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Lululemon Athletica Inc. said late Tuesday that its direct-to-consumer sales nearly doubled in the fourth quarter, making up half of its total sales as the retailer topped Wall Street expectations for the quarter and said it was in the “early innings” of its growth.
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said it earned $330 million, or $2.52 a share, in the quarter, compared with earnings of $298 million, or $2.28 a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $2.58 a share. Sales rose 24% to $1.7 billion, the company said.
Direct-to-consumer sales nearly doubled, and represented 52% of total sales in the quarter, compared with 33% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2019, Lululemon said.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected the retailer to report adjusted earnings of $2.49 a share on sales of $1.66 billion in the quarter.
Shares of Lululemon rose 1% immediately after reporting earnings, but pared gains as the after-hours session progressed.
The company’s “continued growth demonstrates the strength of lululemon — before, during and as the pandemic subsides,” Chief Executive Calvin McDonald said in a statement. “We are still in the early innings of our growth, fueled by exciting innovations that create even more opportunity into the future.”
Lululemon guided for fiscal first-quarter revenue between $1.10 billion and $1.13 billion, and EPS between 81 cents and 85 cents. Adjusted EPS was seen in a range between 86 cents and 90 cents.
For full fiscal 2021, Lululemon called for revenue between $5.55 billion and $5.65 billion. It guided for adjusted per-share earnings between $6.30 and $6.45.
Lululemon stock has fallen nearly 9% in the past 12 months, contrasting with gains around 51% for the S&P 500 index
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