Victoria’s Secret parent L Brands on Wednesday reported first-quarter earnings and sales that topped analysts’ estimates, driven by momentum across its business and more people paying full price for its products.
Its stock was recently down more than 1% in extended trading.
Here’s how the company did for the quarter ended May 1, compared with what analysts were anticipating, based on a Refinitiv survey:
Net income rose to $276.6 million, or 97 cents per share, compared with a loss of $296.9 million, or $1.07 per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time charges, L Brands earned $1.25 per share, beating the $1.21 that analysts were forecasting.
Total sales surged more than 80% to $3.02 billion from $1.65 billion a year earlier. That topped estimates for $3.01 billion.
Total same-store sales were up 21% year over year, compared with a 4% increase in the year-ago period.
Same-store sales at Victoria’s Secret rose 25%, compared with a 15% drop a year earlier. While same-store sales at Bath & Body Works climbed 16%, compared with a 41% jump a year earlier, when many consumers were stocking up on hand sanitizers to keep clean at the onset of the Covid pandemic.
By this fall, L Brands will be spinning off its Victoria’s Secret business into its own publicly traded entity, and said it wouldn’t provide a forecast for the rest of the year.
For the second quarter, it is calling for adjusted earnings per share in a range of 80 cents to $1. Analysts had been looking for 76 cents per share, according to Refinitiv. L Brands didn’t provide a sales outlook for the period.
L Brands has said the split will allow both of its brands to better focus on growth and have greater financial flexibility to adapt to a changing retail landscape. It had been contemplating either a spinoff or a sale, but said the spinoff ended up being the best option for the business to fetch the highest value.
As of Wednesday’s market close, L Brands shares are up about 82% year to date. The company has a market cap of $18.8 billion.
Find the full press release from L Brands here.
