Lululemon misses 4Q profit forecasts

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) _ Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) on Wednesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $136.1 million.

The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said it had profit of 99 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for pretax expenses, were $1 per share.

The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.01 per share.

The athletic apparel maker posted revenue of $789.9 million in the period, topping Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $785.1 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $303.4 million, or $2.21 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.34 billion.

For the current quarter ending in May, Lululemon said it expects revenue in the range of $510 million to $515 million. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $792 million.

The company expects full-year earnings to be $2.26 to $2.36 per share, with revenue ranging from $2.55 billion to $2.6 billion.

Lululemon shares have climbed 2 per cent since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $66.30, a climb of slightly more than 8 per cent in the last 12 months.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on LULU at https://www.zacks.com/ap/LULU

_____

Keywords: Lululemon, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings