Abercrombie & Fitch‘s progress story is beginning to decelerate.
Shares of the attire retailer plummeted 15% on Wednesday after the corporate issued weaker-than-expected steering for its present quarter and financial 2025, and mentioned it expects its gross sales will develop extra slowly than Wall Road anticipated.
Abercrombie is anticipating gross sales to rise between 3% and 5% in fiscal 2025, nicely under estimates of 6.8% progress, in keeping with LSEG. Throughout its present quarter, the corporate anticipates earnings per share will likely be between $1.25 and $1.45, wanting expectations of $1.97.
A slowdown at Abercrombie’s namesake model is compounding issues. The section had been main the corporate’s progress in prior quarters greater than Hollister, its chain that caters extra to youngsters.
Throughout the quarter, gross sales at Abercrombie grew simply 2%, whereas Hollister gross sales jumped 16%. Comparable gross sales at Abercrombie rose 5%, whereas Hollister comps spiked 24%.
Abercrombie model gross sales continued to decelerate into February and turned damaging for the month, CEO Fran Horowitz mentioned on a name with analysts.
“Final 12 months we did have a little bit of a flawless transition into spring, and this 12 months it is a bit extra normalized. [The full company’s sales are] optimistic for the month of February, seeing just a little little bit of a distinction between the manufacturers. Hollister got here in very sturdy off of a really, very sturdy This fall and Abercrombie is a bit damaging,” Horowitz mentioned.
When requested the place macroeconomic situations or one thing else is driving that slowdown, executives did not actually reply and mentioned as a substitute they’re seeing “inexperienced shoots for spring.”
Past steering and slowing progress, Abercrombie narrowly beat Wall Road’s expectations in its fiscal fourth quarter. This is how the retailer carried out in contrast with what Wall Road was anticipating, based mostly on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: $3.57 vs. $3.54 anticipated
- Income: $1.58 billion vs. $1.57 billion anticipated
The corporate’s reported web revenue for the three-month interval that ended Feb. 1 was $187 million, or $3.57 per share, in contrast with $158 million, or $2.97 per share, a 12 months earlier.
Gross sales rose to $1.58 billion, up 9% from $1.45 billion a 12 months earlier. Like different retailers, Abercrombie benefited from an additional promoting week within the year-ago interval. That negatively skewed comparisons for a lot of firms, however Abercrombie gross sales jumped even with one much less promoting week.
Past gross sales and earnings, Abercrombie mentioned it expects one other key metric – working margin – to be decrease than Wall Road anticipated within the present quarter. Abercrombie is anticipating its working margin to be in a variety of between 8% and 9%, nicely behind estimates of 12.8%, in keeping with StreetAccount.
In January, Abercrombie supplied buyers a glimpse into its vacation efficiency when it launched an early set of outcomes and raised its fourth-quarter outlook. Nonetheless, its inventory tumbled that day as a result of the forecast confirmed that Abercrombie was anticipating its progress to reasonable and thought its working margin wouldn’t improve past its earlier forecast. Issues round its working margin are actually seemingly rising after Abercrombie issued its fiscal first-quarter information.
Nonetheless, not all of Abercrombie’s steering was a disappointment. Throughout its present quarter, it expects gross sales to rise between 4% and 6%, consistent with expectations of 5.8%, in keeping with LSEG. For the total 12 months, it anticipates earnings will likely be between $10.40 and $11.40 per share, which on the mid to excessive finish is greater than expectations of $10.83 per share.
Following about two years of explosive inventory and gross sales progress, Abercrombie’s enterprise seems to be leveling out, and the markets could also be turning away from retail’s largest star in favor of names with extra speedy upside.
The corporate continues to be rising, and dealing to construct out its worldwide market, nevertheless it’s unclear if it is nonetheless going to see the blockbuster numbers it has been placing out after implementing a turnaround beneath CEO Horowitz. It faces robust prior-year comparisons, and a number of the buzz from the turnaround is likely to be beginning to fade.
Plus, shoppers have been noticeably cautious for the reason that begin of the 12 months, which is at all times going to stress specialty retailers that promote discretionary items like garments. Geopolitics, unseasonably cool climate and mass tragedies just like the wildfires in Los Angeles have dampened shopper demand, however buyers are additionally involved about issues like rising costs from tariffs. In February, shopper confidence slipped to its lowest ranges since 2021.
The truth that Hollister is now rising sooner than Abercrombie, and accounting for almost all of gross sales, marks a turning level for the corporate and signifies the teen-focused model might as soon as once more be a extra vital progress driver forward. It additionally places stress on administration to do extra to stimulate the Abercrombie model and guarantee it does not go stagnant.
The beginning of the 12 months has been a bit worse than anticipated for numerous different firms, together with Goal and E.l.f. Magnificence. Like E.l.f., Abercrombie might have seen an influence from the proposed TikTok ban, which dragged on the cosmetics firm’s efficiency at the beginning of the 12 months.
Each of the businesses rely closely on TikTok for advertising and marketing. In February, E.l.f. CEO Tarang Amin informed CNBC that he suspects the proposed ban impacted cosmetics gross sales as a result of folks weren’t posting issues like “prepare with me” movies or clothes hauls, which may drive gross sales.
In a information launch in January, Horowitz signaled that transferring ahead, Abercrombie will likely be extra targeted on boosting earnings than gross sales because it seems to “drive long-term shareholder worth.”
“Following an anticipated two years of double-digit prime and bottom-line progress, I’m as assured as ever within the energy of our manufacturers and working mannequin as we transfer ahead, supported by the excellent capabilities we have constructed,” mentioned Horowitz. “In 2025, we are going to look to proceed sustainable, worthwhile progress by means of the execution of our playbooks to win and retain prospects around the globe. Our objective is to leverage our wholesome margin construction and steadiness sheet to develop working revenue {dollars} and earnings per share at charges sooner than gross sales.”
That suggestion got here true on Wednesday when Abercrombie introduced a brand new $1.3 billion share repurchase authorization and mentioned it expects to spend $400 million on inventory buybacks in 2025.
