Lululemon Investors Focus On Q4 Earnings Beat, Shrug At Guidance

Shares of Lululemon Athletica inc. LULU were trading higher by more than 5 percent early Wednesday after the company reported its fourth-quarter results.

Lululemon said that it earned $0.85 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $704.3 million. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.80 per share on revenue of $693.4 million.

Comparable store sales rose 5 percent on a constant currency basis during the quarter while total comparable sales (includes direct to consumer) rose by 11 percent on a constant dollar basis.

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Gross profit for the quarter rose 28 percent from the same quarter a year ago to $354.5 million, while income from operations rose 6 percent year-over-year to $166.3 million.

Investors and traders found Lululemon's earnings print encouraging and appear to shrug off the company's weaker-than-expected guidance.

Lululemon guided its first quarter earnings per share to a range of $0.28 to $0.30 on revenue of $483 million to $488 million. The company's outlook fell short of the $0.37 per share and $485.2 million Wall Street analysts were expecting.

Lululemon also said it expects to earn $2.05 to $2.15 per share throughout fiscal 2016 on revenue of $2.285 billion to $2.335 billion. Wall Street analysts were already expecting the company to earn $2.15 per share on revenue of $2.33 billion.