Abercrombie & Fitch Sinks 25% On Weak Outlook, Same-store Sales Miss

(RTTNews) - Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) tanked 25 percent on Wednesday after the apparel retailer detailed a weak outlook and its same-store sales missed analysts' estimates. The company also announced plans to shut down three more of its flagship stores.

The company said it will close three more of its flagship stores-- SoHo Hollister flagship store in New York City, and Abercrombie flagship store in Fukuoka, Japan and Milan, Italy.

The New York and Milan stores are expected to shut this year, with the Japan location closing in the back half of fiscal 2020, Abercrombie said.

"We continue to believe in stores and are committed to delivering intimate, omni-channel brand experiences that closely align with our customers' needs. In line with our strategy, we are announcing plans to close three additional flagship locations, bringing the total to five since 2017," said CEO Fran Horowitz in a statement.

Overall, Abercrombie's same-store sales were up 1 percent during the fiscal first quarter, however, it fell short of analysts' estimates of 1.3 percent.

New Albany, Ohio-based Abercrombie's loss was $19.16 million or $0.29 per share, narrower than $42.46 million or $0.62 per share last year. Sales increased to $733.97 million from last year's $730.90 million. The Street was looking for a loss of $0.44 per share on sales of $733.16 million.

Looking forward, the company continues to project sales growth of 2 to 4 percent for the full year 2019 and flat to up 2 percent for the second quarter. Analysts currently estimate sales growth of 2.4 percent for 2019 and 2.9% for the second quarter.

ANF is currently trading at $18.82, down $6.19 or 24.75%, on the NYSE, on a volume of 11.5 million shares, above average volume of 2.6 million shares.