Movado Watches its Shares Tick Higher after Strong Prelim Sales, Guidance

Shares of Movado

are seeing much strength during Wednesday's trading session after the company announced preliminary first quarter sales results that exceeded analysts' estimates. Movado announced preliminary results for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 and increased its prior guidance for the full fiscal year in advance of its participation at the Citi 2012 Global Consumer Conference on Thursday, May 24, 2012. On a preliminary basis, net sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 are expected to increase approximately 15% to an estimated $103 million, higher than analyst's expectations of $96 million; the growth is driven primarily by strength in the accessible luxury and licensed brand categories. The company also increased its prior guidance for fiscal 2013 and now anticipates that net sales will increase approximately 9% to $505 million to $510 million, operating income will increase over 25% to $43.5 million to $44.5 million and EBITDA will increase approximately 20% to $55.0 million to $56.0 million. Movado now anticipates net income in fiscal 2013 to increase over 25% to a range of $29.0 million to $29.7 million, or approximately $1.15 per diluted share, which is greater than the $1.12 analysts are anticipating. Efraim Grinberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are pleased that the momentum we have built in the business over the past two years has continued into the first quarter of fiscal 2013. These results are reflective of the effectiveness of the strategic initiatives we have implemented, including the refinement of our product lines and introduction of more frequent and focused innovation. We are particularly pleased with the consistency of results we have achieved over the past nine quarters." Currently, shares of Movado are trading about 10% higher at $28.54 per share. The watch-maker is also up over 56% on the year.