Investing.com – Lululemon athletica inc (NASDAQ:LULU) slumped to a 52-week low on Thursday, after the yoga apparel retailer warned that top-line growth would slow in the current quarter.
Shares of Lululemon slumped to $50.50, hitting a 52-week low, after investors fled the stock, as the Canadian maker of yoga pants and other athletic apparel posted its fourth quarter earnings and forward guidance that were below Wall Street expectations.
The company projected a decline in comparable sales for the current quarter as it struggles to boost in-store traffic and e-commerce revenue.
“Soft traffic in stores combined with lower conversion on our e-commerce site have weighed on our trends so far this quarter,” said chief financial officer Stuart Haselden.
On a conference call with analysts following the results, Lululemon's executives blamed the early-year miss on a Spring collection that lacked depth and color.
Lululemon’s nightmarish day was an isolated event, as U.S. stocks traded higher led by financials and energy, as the latter benefited from a recovery in crude prices.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for May delivery gained 84 cents to settle at $50.35 a barrel.
Meanwhile, an upward revision in GDP data lifted sentiment while hawkish comments from several Fed officials drove Financials, mostly banks, higher.
The Commerce Department earlier reported that U.S. gross domestic product grew faster than previously reported in the fourth quarter.
Cleveland Federal Reserve reiterated her hawkish view concerning interest rate hikes Thursday, as she said that “further removal of accommodation via increases in the fed funds rate will be needed” should economic conditions “evolve as anticipated”.
Fed President John Williams, tapered some of his bullish rhetoric on the U.S. economy, after he said even though the economy shows “consistent” and “encouraging” signs, “housing still isn’t quite back”.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 0.32% higher at 20,724. The S&P 500 gained 0.28% and the Nasdaq Composite traded 0.24% higher at 5911.02.