Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Misses Q4 EPS by 4c, Comps Fall 5%

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) reported Q4 EPS of $0.71, $0.04 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.75. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.04 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion.

• comparable sales for the fourth quarter down 5%.

Outlook

For fiscal 2017, the company expects:

• Comparable sales to improve for the full year, but to remain challenging for the first half, with Hollister, its largest brand, expected to maintain or improve its comparable sales trend and Abercrombie to improve throughout the year
  
• Adverse effects from foreign currency on sales and operating income of approximately $55 million and $25 million, respectively, or approximately $0.25 per diluted share
  
• A gross margin rate flat to the fiscal 2016 adjusted non-GAAP rate of 61.0%, but up on a constant currency basis, driven by lower average unit cost, with continuing promotional pressure in the first quarter
  
• Actions already taken to reduce expense by approximately $100 million, enabling investments in revenue driving activities and resulting in net operating expense down approximately 3% from fiscal 2016 adjusted non-GAAP operating expense of $2.025 billion, with a commitment to pursue further expense reductions throughout the year
  
• Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests of approximately $4 million
  
• A weighted average diluted share count of approximately 68 million shares, excluding the effect of potential share buybacks

The company expects to incur a discrete non-cash income tax charge of approximately $9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 as a result of a change in share-based compensation accounting standards. Excluding discrete items, the core tax rate for full year is expected to be in the mid 30s and remains highly sensitive to jurisdictional mix and at lower levels of pre-tax earnings.

The company is targeting capital expenditures to be approximately $100 million for fiscal 2017. Capital expenditures are expected to include approximately $70 million for store updates and new stores and approximately $20 million for direct-to-consumer and omnichannel and information technology investments to support growth.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) click here.

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