Guess Q4 earnings, sales top Street
Guess turned in a better-than-expected fourth quarter performance fueled by strong demand in Asia and Europe.
The fashion retailer earned $1 million for the quarter ended Feb.3, down from $6.6 million in the year-ago period. GAAP per-share earnings fell 87.5% to 1 cent for the quarter, compared with 8 cents in the prior-year quarter. The company’s net income was impacted by a one-time charge of $47.9 million related to the recently enacted U.S. tax law.
Adjusted for one-time items, Guess earned $51.3 million, or 62 cents a share. Analysts had expected adjusted earnings of 54 cents.
Sales rose 17.5% to $792.2 million. Analysts had expected sales of $756 million. Revenues in the Americas decreased 6.1%. Retail comp sales including e-commerce decreased 4%.
Europe revenues increased 39.7% in U.S. dollars; Asia revenues increased 40.2%.
"I still see a lot of opportunities left in Europe and Asia, where we will continue to allocate capital for superior returns and where we plan to continue growing sales in double digits while also expanding margins," said CEO Victor Herrero. "We will keep working on improving the profitability of the Americas by executing on our cost reduction and margin improvement initiatives."
In February, Paul Marciano, co-founder, chairman and chief creative officer of Guess, relinquished his day-to-day responsibilities at the company on an unpaid basis pending the completion of a probe into accusations of improper conduct by model/actress Kate Upton.
Marcian had denied the charges. The company did not give an update on the ongoing investigation.
The fashion retailer earned $1 million for the quarter ended Feb.3, down from $6.6 million in the year-ago period. GAAP per-share earnings fell 87.5% to 1 cent for the quarter, compared with 8 cents in the prior-year quarter. The company’s net income was impacted by a one-time charge of $47.9 million related to the recently enacted U.S. tax law.
Adjusted for one-time items, Guess earned $51.3 million, or 62 cents a share. Analysts had expected adjusted earnings of 54 cents.
Sales rose 17.5% to $792.2 million. Analysts had expected sales of $756 million. Revenues in the Americas decreased 6.1%. Retail comp sales including e-commerce decreased 4%.
Europe revenues increased 39.7% in U.S. dollars; Asia revenues increased 40.2%.
"I still see a lot of opportunities left in Europe and Asia, where we will continue to allocate capital for superior returns and where we plan to continue growing sales in double digits while also expanding margins," said CEO Victor Herrero. "We will keep working on improving the profitability of the Americas by executing on our cost reduction and margin improvement initiatives."
In February, Paul Marciano, co-founder, chairman and chief creative officer of Guess, relinquished his day-to-day responsibilities at the company on an unpaid basis pending the completion of a probe into accusations of improper conduct by model/actress Kate Upton.
Marcian had denied the charges. The company did not give an update on the ongoing investigation.