How Urban Outfitters Won Big With Earnings

August 16, 2016 by Chris Lange

Urban Outfitters reported its fiscal-second quarter financial results after the markets close on Tuesday. The company said that it had $0.66 in earnings per share (EPS) on $890 million in revenue, which compares to the consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.56 in EPS and $886.84 million in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $0.52 in EPS and $867.46 million in revenue.

During this quarter comparable sales in the retail segment, including the comparable direct-to-consumer channel, increased by 1%. Comps increased 5% in the Urban Outfitters segment, while this was flat at Free People, and decreased 3% in the Anthropologie Group segment. The wholesale segment net sales increased by 4%.

In the six months that ended in July, the company opened a total of 12 new stores including: 8 Free People stores, 3 Anthropologie Group stores and 1 Urban Outfitters store.

On the books, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $302.3 million at the end of the quarter, versus $266.4 million in the second quarter from last year.

Richard A. Hayne, CEO of Urban Outfitters, commented on earnings:

I am pleased to announce our teams delivered record second quarter sales and earnings per share. These results were driven by a positive Retail segment ‘comp’ and substantial improvement in merchandise margins.

Shares of Urban Outfitters closed Tuesday at $31.24, with a consensus analyst price target of $31.43 and a 52-week trading range of $19.26 to $34.77. Following the release of the earnings report the stock was initially up 9.3% at $34.15 in the after-hours trading session.

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