(By Balachander) Lululemon Athletica inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) posted a jump in earnings and revenue for the third quarter and the maker of athletics and yoga apparel raised its full-year forecast.
However, the company guided fourth-quarter below consensus, and its shares retreated 3.78 percent in premarket trading on Thursday.
Net earnings increased 48 percent to $57.3 million. On a per share basis, earnings jumped 44 percent to 39 cents and beat market expectations of 37 cents for the third quarter.
Revenue surged 37 percent to $316.5 million, topping consensus estimate for a growth of 32.6 percent. Comparable stores sales grew 18 percent on a constant dollar basis.
Gross margin shrank to 55.4 percent from 55.8 percent.
Looking ahead for the fourth quarter, Lululemon forecast EPS between 71 cents and 73 cents on revenue of $475 million to $480 million. Analysts expect EPS of 75 cents on revenue of $490.5 million. On a constant dollar basis, the company expects comparable-store sales growth in the high single digits.
For the full year, the company now expects EPS in the range of $1.81 to $1.83 from prior expectations of $1.76 to $1.82. Revenue is now projected to be between $1.360 billion and $1.365 billion from $1.345 billion to $1.360 billion projected earlier.
Analysts expect EPS of $1.82 on revenue of $1.36 billion.
LULU shares, which have been trading in the 52-week range of $42.75 to $81.09, closed at $68.59 on Wednesday.