Luxury goods maker Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. beat Wall Street expectations with fourth-quarter profit of $177 million.
Shares (KORS) were up 3% in early trading to $44 after being up 8% in premarket trading. The stock has risen about 6% so far this year.
The London-based company reported earnings per share of 98 cents for the quarter that ended April 2, beating the 97 cents expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Its profit of $177 million fell short of the $182.64 million from the same period last year, but beat analysts expectations of $176.31.
Sales of its handbags and accessories increased 10.9% to $1.2 billion, with sales in the Americas up 13.4%. That revenue performance compares to $1.1 billion in the same quarter last year and beat forecasts of $1.15 billion.
Revenue for the fiscal year increased 7.8% to $4.7 billion, up from $4.4 billion in fiscal 2015. That beat expectations of $4.66 billion.
The company forecast revenue in the first quarter of its fiscal 2017 year to be $940 million to $950 million, below expectations of $1.03 billion.
Its earnings performance runs counter to a recent disappointing run of retail earnings that have fallen short of Wall Street expectations. “We delivered continued growth across regions despite the challenging retail environment," said CEO and Chairman John Idol in a statement. "Looking ahead, we see multiple growth opportunities, including the expansion of our international markets, the growth of our digital e-commerce flagships, the build-out of our men’s business, the launch of Michael Kors Access wearable technology line, and the continued design innovation of our luxury fashion product, which we believe will enable us to deliver sustainable earnings growth and continue to return value to our shareholders."
During the year, he company added 142 retail stores (668 total) and another 201 additional retail stores operated by licensees. It spent $500 million Tuesday to acquire Michael Kors Limited, its exclusive licensee company in China. During the fiscal year, that business generated revenue of $197 million through 91 company-operated retail stores and six travel retail locations in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
The company also announced a new $1 billion share buyback program.
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