Retail

Is Reality Catching Up With Luxury Brand Michael Kors?

Michael Kors store front
Michael Kors Holdings Ltd.
Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: KORS) reported first-quarter fiscal 2015 results before markets opened Monday. The luxury lifestyle brand reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter of $0.91 and $919.2 million in revenues. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.61 on revenue of $640.9 million. First-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.81 and $851.66 million in revenue.

Global same-store sales for the quarter rose 24.2% year-over-year, and the company says it has opened 115 new stores since the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2014. Total sales rose 43.4% year-over-year, and gross profit was up from 62.0% to 62.2%.

Revenues were 70% higher than the company’s own estimate and same-store sales rose more than the 20% forecast at the end of the prior quarter.

Michael Kors CEO John Idol said:

Our unique position within the global luxury market combined with our compelling diversified product assortment provides tremendous growth opportunity across the North American and International markets. As we look ahead, we will continue to make strategic investments in our business that will support our long term growth objectives and drive value for our shareholders.

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The company guided second-quarter fiscal 2015 revenue to $950 million to $960 million, assuming an increase in same-store sales in the high teens. EPS is forecast at $0.85 to $0.87 for the quarter. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for first-quarter EPS of $0.89 on revenues of $959.47 million.

For the 2015 fiscal year, Kors raised its revenues estimate from $4.0 billion to $4.1 billion to a new range of $4.25 billion to $4.35 billion. The estimate assumes a same-store sales increase in the high teens. The EPS forecast was also raised from a prior range of $3.85 to $3.91 to a new range of $4.00 to $4.05. The consensus estimates call for full-year EPS of $3.96 on revenues of $4.2 billion.

When a company’s quarterly revenue grows more than 40% year-over-year, the first thing we want to know is how long that can go on. With Kors the numbers have been big ever since the firm came public in late 2011, and the growth has been spread around each of the company’s regions: North American sales are up 30% year-over-year, European sales are up a whopping 128% and the company’s Other Regions are up about 88%. The stock is up about 240% since the IPO.

Kors’s EPS forecast for the current quarter is a little below the consensus forecast, but looking at the full-year forecast, the firm remains confident that it can make up the numbers over the rest of the year. History would indicate not betting against that.

Shares were up about 4.4% in premarket trading, at $85.00 in a 52-week range of $67.65 to $101.04. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $106.25 before the results were announced.

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