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Lululemon must keep fixing 'self-inflicted issues'

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Lululemon Athletica's (LULU) fourth quarter earnings beat expectations, but the company missed expectations on its first quarter outlook.

Bernstein senior analyst Aneesha Sherman joins Market Domination Overtime to break down the company's results and path forward.

To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination Overtime here.

00:00 Speaker A

Um, as we look at these Lulu Lemon numbers, and you look at that forecast, is that what you're zeroing in on? And what do you think is the source of perhaps that shortfall versus what analysts are looking for?

00:15 Anisha

Yes, absolutely. So fourth quarter guidance was already raised in January. They sounded extremely bullish coming out of the holidays. And the general expectation was that they had saved a little bit of dry powder to beat on that raised guide as well. And that's exactly what we saw, very strong fourth quarter, aligned with what we heard across the market. But all eyes were on the Q1 guide. I mean, that's where we've seen a lot of struggles across the sector. Companies coming in conservative. There's been a mix of weather and declining consumer sentiment and, um, much a lot of uncertainty around macro. And all of that is taking its toll on guidance. So I do think the focus is very much on the Q1, the FY 25, but in particular, the Q1 guide, and I think that will be the focus on the earnings call as well.

01:48 Speaker B

Anisha, you know, you're a believer in this one. You have an outperform on this rating. How come, Anisha, when you you're talking to clients, what are the catalysts that are going to make get this one moving in the right direction?

02:15 Anisha

So, Lulu has struggled throughout the last year. And it's been a mix of of general law of large numbers. It's the biggest market share holder in sports apparel in the Americas, and it's got new upcoming competitors, as you mentioned, Alo and Fury, et cetera. But the other piece has been self-inflicted errors that have now been fixed. They had a lot of issues with design, with merchandising. The product wasn't new enough. They had the wrong sizes, they had the wrong colors. And a lot of that is much, much better already now in Q1. So there's a big year over year improvement in the level of newness and the the quality of the merchandise in the Americas. And so that part of the equation has been fixed considerably, which is what I expect will drive the the year over year growth. The part about maturity and large numbers, they can't do anything about that. But if they can fix some of the self-inflicted issues, which it looks like they are doing, they should be able to come back into stronger growth in the Americas region, especially in the US.

04:02 Speaker A

Anisha, do you have any concern with the affluent consumer, who is Lulu Lemon's bread and butter, who fills that store at the Short Hills Mall whenever I'm there? Um, you know, there's obviously a lot of broader concern about consumer spending right now. Do you think that that consumer spending is in jeopardy?

04:48 Anisha

If you asked me two months ago, I would have said absolutely not. Coming into this year, the higher income consumer was extremely bullish into the new year. They had a soft year last year. Luxury underperformed, premium underperformed. And this year they came into the year expecting to spend more. However, since February and into March, a lot has changed, particularly with macro. Uh we've had a lot of uncertainty around tariffs, around inflation, around immigration and in general, consumer sentiment across all income bands has come down, including that higher end consumer. And I think that's part of this cautious guidance that we've got from Lulu Lemon.

06:02 Speaker B

Anisha, you mentioned tariffs there. You know, tariffs, trade war. You're an investor in this name. How how should you be thinking about those dynamics?

06:34 Anisha

So, for now, the tariff news that has come out so far does not particularly impact Lulu Lemon in the sense that they don't produce in Mexico or Canada. They produce mainly in Southeast Asia. They have a little bit of China exposure, but it's really negligible and should not impact the stock. The part that's weighing on the stock is concerns around a broader tariff regime that may include countries like Vietnam, which is Lulu Lemon's number one import country and produces, you know, more than 30% of the product. And a a heavy tariff there would significantly impact the cost base. And then they would decide whether to pass it on, which is harder to do in a world of declining consumer sentiment, or whether to absorb it, which hits your margins. So, not a great choice either way. And that's the the concern that people have around tariffs right now.

08:03 Speaker A

Um Anisha, you you still have an outperform on this name, and you sound pretty optimistic here. But what gets the market there, right? What gets, uh, people to come back to it and it will be a catalyst for a rebound here, because it doesn't seem like that this forecast is that.

08:44 Anisha

No. So the main controversy and the debate has been around Americas growth. And we've seen Americas growth be comp growth be in the in in the flattish region for the last couple of quarters. Expectations were for a negative comp in Q4. They actually did a little bit better than that, so it's a very good sign that they're starting to rebound. I think the the focus on the earnings call will be very much around what the traction is in the Americas, particularly in the US. And if it sounds like they are guiding Q1 out of an abundance of caution and are actually seeing a trend that's a little bit better than that, then I think that's a very positive read because a cautious guide is what we've seen across the board. It is the prudent thing to do in a world of macro uncertainty. But you've got to distinguish whether it's just out of an abundance of caution, or whether there's actually a deceleration in the trend that the company is seeing. And I think that's what people are going to look for on the earnings call, that color.

10:13 Speaker B

I always appreciate that instant analysis, Anisha. Thanks so much for being on the show.