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V.F. Corp (VFC) Q2 Earnings & Sales Top Estimates, View Up

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V.F. Corporation (VFC - Free Report) posted strong second-quarter fiscal 2019 results, wherein both the top and bottom lines beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The results were aided by solid trends at its core brands (Vans and The North Face).
 
The company also recorded strong growth in international and direct-to-consumer businesses. This marked the company’s fifth top- and bottom-line beat over the last six quarters.
 
Notably, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock has climbed 12% in the past six months, outperforming the industry’s growth of 8.2%.
 
 
The company’s adjusted earnings of $1.43 per share improved 19% year over year, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.33. Earnings per share included a 8-cent contribution from Williamson-Dickie, Icebreaker and Altra acquisitions. On a constant-dollar basis, adjusted earnings rose 21%.
 
V.F. Corp generated net revenues of $3,907.4 million, which increased about 15% year over year and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3,863 million. Constant-dollar revenues jumped 16%.
 
Excluding the impact of acquisitions, sales were up 6% and constant-dollar revenues grew 7%. The revenue growth can be attributed to continued strength in the company’s largest brands, international and direct-to-customer platforms, as well as Active and Work segments.
 
Adjusted gross margin remained flat year over year to 50.2%, courtesy of the impact from acquisitions. Excluding acquisitions, adjusted gross margin expanded 70 basis points (bps) to 50.9%.
 
Adjusted operating income rose 19% to $690 million and adjusted operating margin expanded 60 bps to 17.7%. Excluding acquisitions, adjusted operating margin rose 100 bps to 18.1%. Adjusted operating income included a $40-million contribution from acquisitions.
 
V.F. Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Revenues in the Active segment grew 19% to $1,300 million (up 20% on a constant-dollar basis). Excluding acquisitions, revenues increased 19%. The improvement was driven by a 26% (27% in constant dollars) increase in revenues for the Vans brand.
 
The Outdoor segment reported revenues of $1,466.5 million, which improved 6% year over year (up 7% in constant dollars). The segment revenues benefited from a 5% rise (up 7% in constant dollars) in The North Face brand sales as well as a 5 percentage point revenue growth contribution from acquisitions.
 
Revenues in the Work segment rose 125%, both on reported and constant-dollar basis, to roughly $472.8 million. Excluding acquisitions, revenues were up 5%.
 
Jeans segment reported revenues of $632.9 million, reflecting a decrease of 7% on reported basis and 6% decline on a constant-dollar basis. Excluding acquisitions, the segment revenues slumped 7%.
 
Other revenues rose 20% to $35.2 million on both reported and constant-dollar basis.
 
Financial Details
 
V.F. Corp ended fiscal second quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $352.8 million, long-term debt of $2,150.6 million and shareholders’ equity of $4,179.6 million. In the six months ended Sep 30, 2018, the company generated cash from operating activities of $103 million.
 
Concurrently, it raised its quarterly dividend by 11% to 51 cents per share, which is payable on Dec 20 to shareholders of record as of Dec 10. As of the quarter-end, the company had $4 billion remaining under its share repurchase authorization.
 
Outlook
 
Following strong fiscal-second quarter results, the company raised its earnings and sales view for fiscal 2019. V.F. Corp now expects revenues of roughly $13.7 billion, reflecting an increase of 11% from prior projections. Earlier, the company anticipated revenues within $13.6-$13.7 billion, up 10-11% from a year ago. The revised guidance includes a negative impact from the sale of Reef brand and the Van Moer business.
 
On a segmental basis, the company expects revenue growth of 7-8% for Outdoor, 14-15% for Active, more than 35% for Work and a dip in revenues of 1-2% for Jeans. The company continues to anticipate International business to report revenue growth of about 12-13%. Revenues for the direct-to-consumer business are expected to increase 12-14% versus previous growth expectation of 11-13%. The company still estimates digital revenue growth of more than 30%.
 
Gross margin is still anticipated to be about 51%, while operating margin is now expected to expand 80 bps to 13.5% (versus prior guidance of 70-bps increase to 13.4%). The company envisions adjusted earnings per share of $3.65, representing growth of 16% year over year. Earlier, it projected adjusted earnings per share of $3.52-$3.57, up 12-14% from a year ago.
 
Further, the company now expects cash flow from operating activities to be approximately $1.8 billion in fiscal 2019 versus previous guidance of more than $1.7 million. Capital expenditure is estimated to be $275 million.
 
Looking for More Promising Bets? Check These Trending Picks
 
Some better-ranked stocks from the same industry are lululemon athletica inc. (LULU - Free Report) , G-III Apparel Group, LTD. (GIII - Free Report) and Guess?, Inc. (GES - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
 
Lululemon has a long-term EPS growth rate of 19.2%.
 
G-III Apparel has a long-term EPS growth rate of 15%. 
 
Guess has a long-term EPS growth rate of 17.5%.
 
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