L Brands Showcases Stellar Comps Performance In January

L Brands, Inc. (NYSE:LB) showcased a stellar comparable sales (comps) performance in the month of January, following a marginal increase witnessed in the month of December. Comps for the five-week period ended Feb 3, 2018 jumped 7%, after registering an increase of 1% in the preceding month. Moreover, net sales for the month under review surged 29.2% to $1,040 million.

Notably, L Brands’ comps increased 4% at Victoria’s Secret and 13% at Bath & Body Works. Management also highlighted that the fifth week in the month of January, represented roughly $150 million in sales and 7 cents in earnings per share.

The company recorded net sales of $4,823.1 million during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, reflecting an increase of 7.4% from $4,489.5 million sales generated in the year-ago period. Comparable sales rose 2% during the quarter. The quarterly sales also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,795 million.

Since the announcement of sales results on Feb 8, shares of this specialty retailer of women’s intimate and other apparel, beauty and personal care products have increased 1.8%. In the past six months, the stock has surged 19.9% compared with the industry’s growth of 18.9%.

For the 53-week period, the company’s net sales inched up 0.5% to $12,632 million but comps declined 3%. The exit from the swim and apparel categories had 3 percentage points and 5 percentage points adverse impact on overall company and Victoria’s Secret comparable sales, respectively.

L Brands, which shares space with Gap (NYSE:GPS) , now envisions fourth-quarter earnings to be approximately $2.05 per share, up from the prior view of $2.00. The guidance includes the impact of tax reform legislation. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is currently pegged at $2.02, which could witness an upward revision in the coming days.

Apart from L Brands, Costco (NASDAQ:COST) and Zumiez (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) came out with their comps results. Comps of Costco and Zumiez increased 6% and 6.3%, respectively, for the month of January.

L Brands, which operates 3,078 company-owned stores, currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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