Some retailers reported post-holiday results on Monday that showed a strong shopping season, but they failed to blow away expectations.
lululemonAs it prepares to hire a new CEO and look ahead to a proxy battle with its founder, the company said in a release that it expects the holiday quarter to be “close to the high end” of its previously announced guidance. shoe manufacturers birkenstock and a thrift shop Savers Value Village Although the company announced lackluster financial results after the holidays, Abercrombie & Fitch Lower the guidance cap. meanwhile, american eagle and Five Below The company bucked the trend and raised its earnings forecast after a better-than-expected holiday season.
Lululemon said it expects fiscal fourth-quarter sales of nearly $3.6 billion and earnings of nearly $4.76 per share. Both numbers are at the high end of the guidance the company announced when it announced its third-quarter results in December.
There was no change to previous guidance for gross profit, effective tax rate, and selling, general and administrative expenses.
Shares rose about 1% in morning trading.
“We remain focused on executing our action plan to drive improvements in our U.S. business and look forward to the opportunities ahead,” Finance Director Meghan Frank said in a statement.
When announcing last quarter’s results on Dec. 11, outgoing CEO Calvin McDonald said the company was “encouraged” by its post-holiday performance, but acknowledged that deep discounts boosted demand during the Thanksgiving holiday period. The trend slowed down once the shopping period ended, he said at the time.
Like other luxury brands, Lululemon has been very selective with its discounts in the past, but it has been using them more aggressively in recent quarters to offload older items and styles that don’t resonate with shoppers.
The company said at the time that profit margins decreased by 2.9 percentage points in the fiscal third quarter, mainly due to higher tariffs and wider price reductions.
Abercrombie & Fitch shares fell more than 18% in morning trading after the company lowered its upper end of its outlook despite “record” quarter-to-date sales.
The company now expects full-year sales to increase “at least 6%,” down from its previous range of 6% to 7%. The company, which has been attracting attention on Wall Street, now expects its operating profit margin to be around 13%, compared to the previously expected range of 13% to 13.5%. The company now expects earnings per share of $10.30 to $10.40, down from its previous estimate of $10.20 to $10.50.
“Our team continues to attack across product, voice and experience, resulting in record quarter-to-date net sales for the fiscal year ending in December, in line with our expectations,” CEO Fran Horowitz said in a news release. “Importantly, we achieved balanced growth across regions, brands and channels.”
Birkenstock last year did not provide specific guidance for the holiday quarter, but said it expected sales to rise 11% to 402 million euros ($470 million) in the quarter ending Dec. 31. Shares rose about 2% in early trading.
At Savers Value Village, sales increased 8.4% in the holiday quarter, and comparable sales increased 5.4% excluding the impact of an extra week on the calendar. Despite the relatively strong growth, the company only reaffirmed its FY2025 adjusted net income and EBITDA outlook. Shares rose slightly in premarket trading.
Meanwhile, American Eagle said its holiday quarter far exceeded expectations, with quarter-to-date comparable sales “increasing in the low single digits” ending Jan. 3, and sales trends were positive across brands and channels.
Comparable sales for the company’s namesake banner grew in the low single digits, while sales for its intimate product line, Airy, were in the “low 20s.”
American Eagle said its “record” season boosted fourth-quarter operating income from $155 million to $160 million to a range of $167 million to $170 million.
“Our momentum continued in the fourth quarter, with record sales in December driven by the strength of our brands, with particularly strong growth in Aerie and Offline, and continued growth in American Eagle,” CEO Jay Schottenstein said in a news release. “Our customers embraced our new product collection and responded to our latest marketing efforts, and our strong performance continued after the holidays.”
Still, the company’s stock fell 9% on Monday.
Five Below said quarter-to-date sales as of Jan. 3 were up 23.2% and comparable sales were up 14.5%.
“We’re extremely pleased with our holiday performance, which validates the strategy we’ve implemented this year,” CEO Winnie Park said in a news release. “With a passionate focus on our customers, the child in all of us, we began to create a more connected customer journey by delivering amazingly on-trend products at exceptional value.” “Through close collaboration and coordination across the company, we have delivered strong and far-reaching results.”
The company now expects fourth-quarter sales to be approximately $1.71 billion, up from the previous range of $1.58 billion to $1.61 billion, and has nearly doubled its comparable sales outlook to 14% from between 6% and 8%.
The company now expects earnings per share to be in the range of $3.93 to $3.98, up from previous expectations of $3.34 to $3.52. Five Below expects adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $3.95 to $4, up from the prior range of $3.36 to $3.54 per share.
The company’s shares fell about 1% in morning trading.
Early results released ahead of the annual ICR conference in Orlando, Florida, show what many analysts were expecting for the holiday season. While there will continue to be standout companies with strong growth, Wall Street generally expects business results to remain strong without significant broad-based increases in consumer spending.
The National Retail Federation previously expected retail sales to rise 3.7% to 4.2% in November and December compared to 2024. That’s solid growth, but some analysts expect volume growth to be more or less flat after factoring in higher prices due to tariffs.
