Guess Turnaround Effort Stalls
March 16 2016 - 6:10PM
Dow Jones News
Guess Inc. logged a steeper-than-expected profit decline during
its holiday quarter and warned it would post a first-quarter loss,
the latest signs that its turnaround effort has stalled.
Shares in the company tumbled 12% in after-hours trading.
Guess has long struggled with dwindling sales—reporting 21
straight quarters of same-store sales declines. And as the retailer
has an international presence, the strong U.S. dollar has added to
its woes by making its items more expensive in foreign
currencies.
In the latest quarter, sales at existing stores slipped 2.2%.
Accounting for a 1% rise in online sales, overall comparable store
sales declined 1.2%, Guess said.
Chief Executive Victor Herrero said Wednesday that Guess still
has "more work to be done" and issued downbeat guidance for the
current quarter and full year.
The company expects to swing to a loss in its first quarter,
projecting a loss of 17 cents a share to 20 cents a share. Analysts
had predicted a profit of 3 cents a share. For the year, Guess
guided for per-share earnings between 65 cents and 85 cents, short
of the $1.11 analysts had anticipated.
Overall for the fourth quarter, Guess reported a profit of $47.8
million, or 57 cents a share, down from year-earlier earnings of
$53.9 million, or 63 cents a share. Revenue slid 5.5% to $658.3
million.
Analysts projected 58 cents in adjusted earnings per share and
$657.6 million in sales, according to Thomson Reuters.
Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 16, 2016 17:55 ET (21:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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