lululemon athletica (LULU) Raises Q4 Guidance

lululemon athletica (NASDAQ: LULU) today announced that the Company is updating its net revenue and earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 ending February 1, 2015.

For the fourth quarter, the Company now anticipates that net revenue will be in the range of $595 million to $600 million based on a total comparable sales increase between 6 to 7% on a constant dollar basis. This compares to the Company's previous guidance of net revenue in the range of $570 million to $585 million for the fourth quarter based on a total comparable sales increase in the low single digits on a constant dollar basis. The Company also now expects diluted earnings per share will be in the range of $0.71 to $0.73 for the fourth quarter. The previous EPS guidance for the fourth quarter was a range of $0.65 to $0.69. EPS guidance continues to assume 142.6 million diluted weighted-average shares outstanding and a 30.2% tax rate.

(Street sees EPS of $0.69 on revenue of $583.89 million)

“Backed by improving trends and strong holiday results, we are entering 2015 in very good shape. Our guests are responding positively to both the women’s and men’s product assortment, and with the build-out of our senior leadership team near completion, I feel confident in our ability to execute on our growth strategies,” said Laurent Potdevin, CEO of lululemon athletica.

“Building on our current momentum, our team is relentless in driving the business forward. With that, over the coming year, we will complete the critical foundational business improvements already underway while also making disciplined, strategic investments in our brand, product, guest experience and international expansion efforts, with the expectation that we will begin to see operating margin leverage in 2016,” continued Potdevin.

Management will be meeting with analysts and investors and presenting at the ICR XChange Conference in Orlando, Florida this week. See the Company's separate press release dated December 29, 2014 for webcast information.

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