Lululemon Athletica Inc. increased guidance for its net revenue and earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 ending Feb. 3, 2013.
The maker and retailer of yoga-inspired apparel now anticipates that net revenue will be at the high end of its original guidance range of $475 million to $480 million based on a comparable-store sales percentage increase in the high single digits on a constant-dollar basis.
The company also now expects diluted earnings per share will be 74 cents for the quarter. The previous guidance for the fourth quarter was a range of 71 to 73 cents. EPS guidance continues to assume 145.9 million diluted weighted-average shares outstanding and a 29.4 percent tax rate.
Our store managers, key leaders and educators stepped up and did a fantastic job this year as the calendar compressed holiday shopping patterns into a couple of key weeks, said Christine Day, Lululemons CEO. We are also pleased that our gross margin is running slightly ahead of plan, and that we are entering 2013 in a clean inventory position. Along with our new back to gym product, we are beginning to flow a beautiful new spring assortment into our stores this week and look forward to introducing new innovation and function to our guests in 2013.
