Michael Kors Continues to Fall Out of Favor

May 27, 2015 by Chris Lange

Michael Kors store frontMichael Kors Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: KORS) reported its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday before the markets opened. The company had $0.90 in earnings per share (EPS) on $1.08 billion in revenue, versus Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $0.91 in EPS on $1.08 billion in revenue. In the same quarter of the previous year, Michael Kors posted EPS of $0.78 and $917.45 million in revenue.

The company issued guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2016, expecting total revenue to be in the range of $930 million to $950 million and EPS to be in the range of $0.74 to $0.78. The consensus estimates call for EPS of $1.03 on $1.09 billion in revenue for the period.

Retail net sales increased 14.9% to $469.4 million, driven by 121 net new store openings since the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 and e-commerce sales from the recently launched U.S. e-commerce site, partially offset by a 5.8% decrease in comparable store sales.

At the end of March 2015, Michael Kors operated 526 retail stores, compared to 405 retail stores in the same period last year. Including licensed locations, there were 728 Michael Kors stores worldwide at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015.

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During the quarter, the company repurchased 1,409,682 ordinary shares for roughly $92.0 million. At the same time the board approved the repurchase of up to an additional $500 million of ordinary, which increased the initial repurchase authorization to $1.5 billion, of which about $1.0 billion is available for future repurchases over the next two years.

John D. Idol, chairman and chief executive officer of Michael Kors, commented on earnings:

Fiscal 2015 marked another year of sales and earnings growth in excess of 30%. While we were faced with a number of headwinds in the fourth quarter, we were pleased with the strong performance across our segments and geographies. We believe that our results demonstrate the strength of the Michael Kors brand as our luxury products continue to resonate with consumers worldwide. Looking at Fiscal 2016, this will be a year of strategic investments as we continue to develop our powerful platform to support the numerous growth initiatives that are now underway.

Cash and cash equivalents totaled $979 million at the end of the company’s 2015 fiscal year, compared to $971 million at the end of the previous year.

Shares of Michael Kors closed Tuesday down 1.7% at $60.59. After earnings were released, shares dropped 12.8% further to $52.75. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $81.65 and a 52-week trading range of $59.80 to $97.60.

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