Lululemon boosts guidance after stellar second-quarter results surpass expectations

This Monday, June 5, 2017, photo, shows a Lululemon Athletica logo outside a store on Newbury Street in Boston. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Steven Senne)

VANCOUVER -

Lululemon Athletica Inc. boosted its guidance after handily beating expectations in its latest quarter with profits more than doubling on a 61 per cent increase in sales.

The Vancouver-based athletic clothing company, which reports in U.S. dollars, says it earned US$208.1 million or US$1.59 per diluted share in the second quarter, up from US$86.8 million or 66 cents per share a year earlier.

Adjusted profits more than doubled to US$215.8 million or US$1.65 per share, compared with US$96.3 million or 74 cents per share in the second quarter of 2020.

Revenues for the three months ended Aug. 1 surged to US$1.45 billion from US$902.9 million.

Lululemon was expected to report $1.19 per share in adjusted profits on US$1.34 billion of revenues, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.

Direct-to-consumer revenue represented 41.2 per cent of total revenues, compared with 61.4 per cent in the year-ago period.

"Our performance in Q2 was driven by a strong response to our product offering, improving productivity in our stores, and sustained strength in e-commerce," stated chief financial officer Meghan Frank.

"While we continue to navigate the COVID-19 environment, including supply chain headwinds, I'm excited with our momentum as we head into the second half of the year and pleased to be able to increase our guidance."

Lululemon expects full-year profits to be US$7.16 to $7.26 per share on US$6.19 billion to US$6.26 billion of revenues.

The company opened 11 new stores in the quarter and has 534 stores in its network.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2021.