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Time to Buy Lululemon (LULU) Stock With Q2 Earnings In View?

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Lululemon (LULU - Free Report) saw its stock price pop over 2.6% Thursday amid what has been a relatively sideways few months for the yoga apparel giant. Thursday’s move comes after Lululemon announced that it will release its second-quarter financial results on Thursday, August 30. Now, let’s dive into the Canadian company as it aims to grab more market share from Nike (NKE - Free Report) and Adidas (ADDYY - Free Report) . 

Recent News

Lululemon saw its revenue soar 25% in Q1 to reach $616.32 million, which crushed our Zacks Consensus Estimate. LULU also beat our quarterly earnings estimates. But more importantly, comparable store sales popped by 6% and e-commerce sales soared 60%.

The firm’s e-commerce revenues reached $157.8 million to account for 24% of total revenue. Lululemon’s international sales also climbed by 53%, while its revenues in Asia skyrocket by over 100%.

The company closed the quarter with just 11 stores in Asia, but this market could be key going forward as it faces more competition in North American from the likes of Nike, Adidas, Puma, and Gap (GPS - Free Report) as well as up-and-comers such as Outdoor Voices.

Lululemon, unlike other sportswear firms, was never a wholesaler, operating mostly its own stand-alone storefronts. This means it will face fewer challenges compared to its peers, many of which must shift away from a reliance on Dick’s Sporting Good (DKS - Free Report) , Foot Locker (FL - Free Report) , and other retailers in the age of Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) . Therefore, Lululemon runs a fairly high margin business—its gross margin jumped over 3% to hit 53.1% last quarter.

Plus, since LULU reported its first-quarter results in late May, the company announced a new CEO. Lululemon hired a chief executive to replace Laurent Potdevin, who resigned amid allegations of conduct violations all the way back in February. The firm’s new CEO, Calvin McDonald, served as president and CEO of makeup retailer Sephora’s Americas division as well as CEO of Sears Canada. McDonald is set to officially take over on August 20.

Performance

Shares of LULU are up around 87% over the last five years, which comes in above the S&P 500’s 76% climb as well as the apparel industry’s 56% average. The interesting part about Lululemon’s run is that its shares moved mostly sideways for roughly three years during this stretch, which included some significant turbulence.

But LULU stock has skyrocketed over 119% during the last 12 months on the back of continued momentum in the athleisure industry as a whole.

 

Growth Outlook

Lululemon’s second-quarter revenues are projected to climb by over 15% to hit $668.25 million, based on our current Zacks Consensus Estimate. Meanwhile, its top line is expected to surge 16.2% to reach $3.08 billion in fiscal 2018.  

At the other end of the income statement, LULU’s adjusted quarterly earnings are expected to expand by 25.6% to hit $0.49 per share. Lululemon’s full-year EPS figure is projected to touch $3.22, which would mark a 24% climb. Plus, LULU’s second-quarter EPS projection has climbed by $0.04 over the duration of the quarter.

Lululemon is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) that might be worth buying ahead of its quarterly earnings release, especially since the retail industry has performed well during the second quarter.

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