Earnings Preview for VF Corp. (VFC)

VF Corporation

is scheduled to report first-quarter 2011 earnings before the market opens tomorrow, April 29. Analysts are looking for the sportswear producer and retailer to announce that per-share earnings rose 10% from a year ago to $1.60. That consensus estimate has risen 9 cents in the past 90 days. Among VF Corp.'s brands are Lee, Wrangler, JanSport, North Face, Eagle Creek, Eastpak, Nautica and Vans. The company is the world's largest maker of jeans, and it operates more than 750 stores, primarily in North America and Europe. It also runs e-commerce sites for its various brands. Its products are available in department and specialty stores and at discounters as well. During the first quarter, VF Corp. announced management restructuring and laid out its 5-year growth plan at its March investor meeting. The company also completed the acquisition of the Rock & Republic brand, which it has just announced will be available exclusively at Kohl's

stores. The consensus revenue forecast for the first quarter calls for $1.9 billion. That is an increase of 8.9% from the same period of last year. The anticipated first-quarter results are largely in line with what analysts are so far anticipating for the full year. That is, they are looking for 2011 earnings up 9.2% year-over-year to $7.09 per share on revenues of $8.4 billion, an annual increase of 8.6%. Note though that the consensus forecast has underestimated VF Corp.'s earnings in the past five quarters, missing by as much as 30 cents per share. Shares are trading at 16.6x earnings estimates, but that's much lower than the industry average. The share price has hit another multi-year high today: $108.09. The stock is up more than 20% year-to-date, outperforming the broader market in the past few weeks.