Investing.com -- Shares in Urban Outfitters Inc (NASDAQ:URBN) plunged more than 7% in after-hours trading after the Philadelphia-based retail clothing chain store reported sharp declines in a critical industry-wide metric last month.
Urban Outfitters, the multi-national clothing company, disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that comparable store retail sales fell 1% for the month of May, considerably below analysts forecasts of 1.1% during the second quarter. By comparison, Urban Outfitters' comp sales increased by 1% last quarter and 4% over the second quarter last year. The company defines comparable store sales as revenues from brick-and-mortar stores open for more than 12 months, along with online sales.
In a Form 10-Q regulatory filing with the SEC, Urban Outfitters officials admitted the company is currently exposed to purchase price fluctuations in merchandise, as well as foreign currencies closely intertwined with the dollar and changes in interest rates.
"Due to our inventory turnover rate and our historical ability to pass through the impact of any generalized changes in our cost of goods to our customers through pricing adjustments, commodity and other product risks are not expected to be material," Urban Outfitters said in the filing. "We purchase the majority of our merchandise in U.S. dollars, including a majority of the goods for our stores located in Canada and a portion of the goods for our stores located in Europe."
Last month, Urban Outfitters reported first quarter revenues of $763 million, the most on record for the opening three months of a year in company history. It represented a 3% increase on a year-over-year basis. Comparable store sales rose by 2% at its namesake brand and were flat at the Anthropologie Group.
Shares in Urban Outfitters plunged 2.17 or 7.77% to 25.76.