Lululemon Athletica Lifts Q4 Outlook

(RTTNews) - lululemon athletica inc. (LULU) said that it updated its net revenue and earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 ending January 28, 2018.

For the fourth quarter, the company now anticipates that net revenue will be in the range of $905 million to $915 million based on a total comparable sales increase in the high single digits on a constant dollar basis. This compared to previous guidance of net revenue in the range of $870 million to $885 million for the fourth quarter based on a total comparable sales increase in the mid-single digits on a constant dollar basis.

The company also now expects earnings per share will be in the range of $1.24 to $1.26 for the fourth quarter. Excluding the impact of the restructuring of ivivva operations, it expects adjusted diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $1.25 to $1.27 for the quarter. The previous earnings per share guidance for the fourth quarter was a range of $1.18 to $1.21, or $1.19 to $1.22 excluding the impact of the ivivva restructuring.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $1.22 per share and revenues of $883.78 million for the fourth-quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company noted that the guidance also continues to assume a 30.4% tax rate and does not reflect the impact of the U.S. tax reform which was enacted on December 22, 2017. It is assessing the impact that the tax reform will have, but expect to recognize a significant income tax expense in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 related to the one-time deemed repatriation tax on accumulated foreign earnings. It believes that the impact of the tax reform will be favorable to the Company's effective tax rate in fiscal 2018.