PVH Earnings Preview: Double-Digit EPS and Sales Growth Expected

PVH

, formerly Phillips-Van Heusen, is scheduled to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2011 results tomorrow, March 27, after the closing bell. The company reaffirmed its earnings guidance back in February, saying it expects its fourth-quarter and full-year results to come in at the high end of its previously announced range. And investors can be pleased that revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters and hope that the trend continues. But the company's gross margin shrank by 2.2 percentage points in the previous quarter.

Analysts predict that PVH will post per-share earnings of $1.09 for the quarter and say that revenue totaled $1.5 billion. In the same quarter of last year, the company reported $0.93 per share and $1.4 billion in sales. That EPS estimate is unchanged over the past 60 days. Note that analysts have underestimated PVH's EPS for more than eight quarters. Back in the third-quarter report, PVH said its net income grew to $112.2 million, or $1.54 a share. That was up from $1.39 a share in the same quarter of the previous year. Revenue rose 9% year over year to $1.6 billion. Management credited continued momentum in its Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein businesses for the strong results.

For the full fiscal year, analysts expect to see earnings of $5.29 per share and revenue of $5.9 billion. That would be up from $4.26 and $4.6 billion in the previous year. That EPS estimate is up a penny from 60 days ago and in line with previously released guidance.

New York-based PVH is one of the world's largest apparel companies. Its brands include Van Heusen, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and IZOD. Its licensed brands include Kenneth Cole New York, Sean John, Donald J. Trump Signature Collection and DKNY. The company changed its name from Phillips-Van Heusen to PVH in June 2011. The company was founded in 1881 and it now has a market cap of $6.1 billion. Competitors include Liz Claiborne

, Ralph Lauren

and Oxford Industries

. Liz Claiborne swung to a fourth-quarter profit due to the sale of its namesake brands but revenues fell short of consensus estimates. Ralph Lauren posted better-than-expected EPS in the most recent quarter and raised its fiscal-year sales forecast. Oxford Industries is also on tap to report earnings Tuesday, and analysts are looking for EPS to be up 35.1% year over year and sales up 21.9%.

and

During the three months that ended in January, PVH boosted its profit guidance for the fourth quarter and full year, and the CEO and the COO of Tommy Hilfiger sold some shares.

PVH's long-term earnings per share growth forecast is 15.2%. Sales increased 19.4% over the past five years. The P/E is higher than the industry average, but so is the operating margin. PVH has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Eleven of 16 analysts who follow the stock rate it a Buy or Strong Buy; none recommend selling shares. But their mean price target on the shares now is about the same as the current share price.

The stock is about 27% higher than at the beginning of the year, as well as about 52% higher than a year ago. Shares are trading near the 52-week high. The price has been above the 50-day and 200-day moving averages since before the beginning of the year. Over the past six months, the stock has outperformed Ralph Lauren, Oxford Industries and Perry Ellis

, as well as the broader markets.