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Lululemon stock (LULU) earned its spot atop the Yahoo Finance trending ticker page on Friday.
Shares of the athletic wear maker tanked 12% in premarket trading after an underwhelming earnings outlook overshadowed better-than-expected quarterly profits.
The company pinned its soft outlook on everything from a first quarter store traffic slowdown to tariff risk from the Trump administration.
"Overall, the theme remains that growth is fading," Jefferies analyst and longtime Lululemon bear Randy Konik said. "The Americas segment continues to slow, driven by weaker US trends, impacting LULU's growth opportunity as it accounts for ~75% of the business. With slower mall traffic and an unfavorable macro environment, further sales and EPS growth will be challenging."
Read more about Lululemon's stock moves and today's market action.
(LULU)
Konik maintained an Underperform rating on Lululemon shares.
The company did get defended by a few analysts on the Street, namely from Stifel, Evercore ISI, and Deutsche Bank.
"We expect the stock to be down slightly with sluggish 1Q trends confirmed, but we didn’t hear many incremental negatives for the bears. We think the key near-term stock question from here will be whether the US slows relative to what LULU embedded in guidance," Evercore ISI analyst Michael Binetti said.
Binetti reaffirmed an Outperform rating.
Here is what Yahoo Finance saw in the numbers:
1. Weak store traffic
Lululemon CFO Meghan Frank told investors on the earnings call they are not expecting store traffic to improve this year versus softness out of the gate in the first quarter.
Considering Lululemon is planning to increase inventory by a high-teens percentage, the Street is worried the company may need to discount goods given weak traffic trends. Discounting would come at the expense of profit margins.
2. Tepid guidance
The Street will be forced to reset its earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Lululemon for 2025.
The company sees full-year earnings in a range of $14.95 to $15.15 per share. The Street modeled for $15.37 a share.
3. Looming tariffs
Despite efforts over the past two years to diversify its supply chain, Lululemon warned it won't be immune to potential tariffs from the Trump administration.
The company said it expects operating profit margins to drop 100 basis points year over year in 2025. A "bit over 50%" of the decline is related to tariffs.
Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.