Abercrombie & Fitch's stock surges after profit and sales beat, upbeat outlook
Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. shot up 9.0% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the apparel retailer beat fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and sales expectations and provided an upbeat outlook, as strength in its Hollister stores offset weakness in Abercrombie. Net income for the quarter to Feb. 2 rose to $96.9 million, or $1.42 a share, from $74.2 million, or $1.05 a share, a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted EPS slipped to $1.35 from $1.38, but was well above the FactSet consensus of $1.15. Net sales fell 2% to $1.16 billion, but beat the FactSet consensus of $1.13 billion, as same-store sales growth of 3.0% topped expectations of a 1.4% rise. Among store brands, Hollister sales rose 1% to $712.9 million, beating the FactSet consensus of $690.9 million, while Abercrombie sales fell 9% to $442.7 million to miss expectations of $446.0 million. For 2019, the company expects sales to rise 2% to 4%, while the current FactSet consensus of $3.61 billion implies 0.5% growth. A&F's stock has rallied 10.5% over the past three months, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has gained 1.5% and the S&P 500 has advanced 3.5%.
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