Lululemon Athletica Q1 net revenues up 10 percent

Lululemon Athletica, for the first quarter ended May 3, 2015 reported net revenue rise of 10 percent to 423.5 million dollars from 384.6 million dollars in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. Total comparable sales, which includes comparable store sales and direct to consumer, increased by 6 percent for the first quarter on a constant dollar basis.

Comparable store sales for the quarter decreased by 1 percent on a constant dollar basis and direct to consumer revenue increased 31percent on a constant dollar basis. Direct to consumer net revenue increased 27 percent to 83.6 million dollars, or 19.7 percent of total company revenue, an increase from 17.2 percent of total company revenues in the first quarter of fiscal 2014.

“Our team's solid performance resulted in another improving quarter - coming in ahead of our revenue expectations. We drove positive trends in traffic, conversion, and brand engagement, along with a continued acceleration of our e-commerce business,” said Laurent Potdevin, Lululemon's CEO, commenting on the company’s performance.

Gross profit for the quarter increased by 5 percent to 205.9 million dollars, and as a percentage of net revenue gross profit was 48.6 percent for the quarter compared to 50.9 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. Income from operations for the quarter decreased by 3 percent to 68 million dollars, and as a percentage of net revenue was 16.1 percent compared to 18.2 percent of net revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2014.

Diluted earnings per share were 0.34 dollars on net income of 47.8 million dollars, compared to diluted earnings per share of 0.13 dollars on net income of 19 million dollars in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, which included 0.21 dollars per share impact from the tax expense on the repatriation of foreign earnings. Excluding the tax expense on the repatriation of foreign earnings, diluted earnings per share were 0.34 dollars in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. The company ended the quarter with 316 stores.

For the second quarter of fiscal 2015, the company expects net revenue to be in the range of 440 million dollars to 445 million dollars based on total comparable sales in the high single digits on a constant dollar basis. Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of 0.31 dollars to 0.33 dollars for the quarter. For the full fiscal 2015, it expects net revenue to be in the range of 2 billion to 2.050 billion dollars based on total comparable sales in the mid-single digits on a constant dollar basis. Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of 1.86 dollars to 1.91 dollars for the full year.