Cheers for Abercrombie & Fitch’s Q1 Are Short-Lived

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) reported its most recent quarterly results before the markets opened on Friday. The company said that it had a net loss of $0.56 per share on $730.9 million in revenue, while the consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters had called for a net loss of $0.77 per share and revenue of $696.65 million. The same period of last year reportedly had a net loss of $0.91 per share and $661.1 million in revenue.

During the latest quarter, consolidated comparable sales were 5%. This consisted of 6% comps at Hollister and 3% comps at Abercrombie.

By brand, net sales increased 13% to $423.6 million for Hollister and increased 7% to $307.3 million for Abercrombie from last year.

Direct-to-consumer net sales increased 14% to $200.7 million from last year and were approximately 27% of total net sales for the quarter.

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In terms of the outlook for the fiscal 2018 full year, the company expects to see net sales up in the range of 2% to 4%, with comparable sales up about 2% to 4%. The consensus estimates call for a net loss of $0.10 per share and $808.75 million in revenue.

CEO Fran Horowitz commented:

We are pleased with our performance across all brands, with the consistent execution of our playbooks delivering a solid quarter of sales growth, and bottom-line improvement. Results exceeded our expectations driven by a 5% increase in comparable sales, gross margin expansion, and 460 basis points of expense leverage. Hollister continued to drive strong sales growth across channels and geographies and Abercrombie built momentum with another quarter of positive comparable sales led by strength in North America.

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch traded up about 4.5% at $24.98 in Friday’s premarket, only to tumble more than 9% to $21.68 shortly after the open. The consensus analyst price target is $22.54, and the 52-week trading range is $8.81 to $29.20.

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