By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - Lululemon Athletica on Thursday reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that fell short of expectations amid lower margins and store closures owing to the Covid-19 pandemic
Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) shares lost 5.83% in after-hours trade following the report.
Lululemon Athletica announced earnings per share of $0.22 on revenue of $652 million. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $0.25 on revenue of $680 million.
Direct to consumer net revenue increased 68%, while gross margin slipped 260 basis points to 51.3%.
"As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, all of the company's stores in North America, Europe, and certain countries in Asia Pacific were closed for a significant portion of the quarter. Subsequent to May 3, 2020, the company began reopening its retail locations in these markets in line with the guidance from local authorities," the company said. "As of June 10, 2020, 295 of its company-operated stores were open."
Lululemon Athletica shares are up 17% from the beginning of the year, still down 5.17% from its 52 week high of $324.75 set on June 10. They are outperforming the S&P 500 which is down 7.03% year to date.
Due to the impact that Covid-19 is having across the globe, and the rapid and continuous developments, Lululemon said it would not provide detailed financial guidance for fiscal 2020 at this time.
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