Lululemon shares fall as yoga-wear giant cuts profit forecast

Posted: June 16, 2014 at 7:49 pm


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Lululemon Athletica Inc. shares plunged to the lowest level in more than three years after the apparel maker cut its earnings forecast and dealt with a public feud between its founder Chip Wilson and the companys board.

The stock fell almost 15% to $37.66 Thursday morning after Lululemon said annual earnings will be $1.71 to $1.76 a share, down from an earlier projection of $1.80 to $1.90. Revenue will be $1.77 billion to $1.8 billion, down from a prior estimate of$1.82 billion.

Estimated second-quarter profit will be 28 cents to 30 cents a share. Revenue will be $375 million to $380 million, less than the $387 million that Wall Street expected.

The company also reported a tax-related drop in fiscal first-quarter earnings stemming from a plan to buy back up to $450 million in shares.

First-quarter profit was $19 million, or 13 cents a share, compared with $47.3 million, or 32 cents, a year earlier. Revenue was up 11% to $384.6 million, but same-store sales increased just 1%. In-store sales decreased 4%.

The yoga-wear maker also announced that finance chief John Currie will resign at the end of the fiscal year.

Laurent Potdevin, who was named chief executive in December, tried toreassure investors that 2014 is a transition year following Lululemons string of headline-grabbing problems.

Despite a reduced outlook, I am confident that the work we are doing today will only enhance our premium positioning, he said.

Once a top player in athletic wear, Lululemon is grappling with the fallout from last years recall of 17% of its Luon yoga pants for being nearly transparent.

The crisis was exacerbated when Wilson made comments that seemed to blame the problems on overweight customers whose thighs rubbed together too much. That rankled its strong base of female customers.

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Lululemon shares fall as yoga-wear giant cuts profit forecast

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June 16th, 2014 at 7:49 pm

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