L Brands Profit Tops Estimate

(RTTNews) - Women's apparel retailer L Brands, Inc. (LB) said Wednesday after the markets closed that its first quarter profit rose 60% from last year, helped by higher sales and an asset-sale gain.

The company's quarterly earnings per share also came in above analysts' expectations. At the same time, the company forecast second quarter earnings below analysts' current consensus estimate, but raised its full year earnings outlook.

L Brands shares are currently losing 1.07% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $88.70, up 58 cents. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $55.33 to $95.78.

L Brands, through Victoria's Secret, PINK, Bath & Body Works, La Senza and Henri Bendel, operates 2,966 company-owned specialty stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company was formerly known as Limited Brands, Inc. and changed its name to L Brands, Inc. in March 2013.

For the first quarter ended May 2, 2015, the Columbus, Ohio-based company reported net income of $250.5 million or $0.84 per share, compared to $157 million or $0.53 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding a $69.0 million or $0.23 per share gain on the sale of the company's remaining interest in the third-party apparel sourcing business, adjusted net income for the latest quarter was $181.5 million or $0.61 per share.

On average, 34 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.60 per share for the first quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Earlier this month, L Brands had raised its first quarter adjusted earnings outlook to a range of $0.58 to $0.60 per share from its prior outlook of $0.50 to $0.55 per share.

As previously announced, net sales for the first quarter rose 5% to $2.51 billion from $2.39 billion in the same quarter last year. Thirty-one analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $2.54 billion for the first quarter.

Same-store sales for the quarter increased 5%, including 5% at Victoria's Secret and 4% Bath & Body Works stores.

Looking forward, the company forecasts second quarter earnings of $0.60 to $0.65 per share. The company also raised its full year adjusted earnings outlook to a range of $3.50 to $3.70 per share from its prior outlook of $3.45 to $3.65 per share.

Analysts currently expect the company to earn $0.69 per share for the second quarter and $3.75 per share for the full year 2015.