NEW YORK - PVH Corp. (NYSE:PVH), the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, reported better-than-expected second quarter earnings and raised its full-year guidance, despite a decline in revenue.
Still, PVH stock tumbled around 8% in premarket trading on Wednesday.
The apparel company posted adjusted earnings per share of $3.01 for the quarter, significantly surpassing the analyst estimate of $2.29. Revenue came in at $2.07 billion, in line with analyst expectations but down 6% YoY (5% decrease on a constant currency basis).
PVH's strong earnings performance was driven by gross margin expansion of 250 basis points to 60.1%, reflecting benefits from a favorable shift in channel mix, reduced sales to lower margin wholesale accounts, and lower product costs. The company also reported a 12% decrease in inventory compared to the prior year period.
"We delivered on our top- and bottom-line commitments and beat our earnings guidance for the second quarter, led by our disciplined execution of the PVH+ Plan," said Stefan Larsson, Chief Executive Officer.
For the full year 2024, PVH raised its adjusted EPS guidance to a range of $11.55 to $11.80, up from the previous forecast of $11.00 to $11.25. The company reaffirmed its projected revenue decrease of 6% to 7% compared to 2023.
The improved outlook is partly due to a tax benefit resulting from the favorable settlement of a multi-year audit in an international jurisdiction. PVH now projects an effective tax rate of approximately 16% for the full year, down from the previous guidance of about 20%.
Meanwhile, the company's Q3 non-GAAP EPS outlook of around $2.50 is below the sell-side's $3.10 view. According to UBS analysts, this suggests that "the macro backdrop has become moderately more challenging for PVH over the last few months."
"We believe this could weigh on the stock price in the near term since the market tends to focus on "rate-of-change"," they added.
Still, UBS believes that PVH has the brand strength and solid balance sheet necessary to drive long-term earnings growth. They forecast the company achieving a double-digit percentage compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in EPS.
Separately, JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) analysts said PVH's guidance raise reflects the flow-trough of the second quarter's $0.55/share tax benefit, while the company's management "effectively “de-risked” the back-half topline/gross margin outlook by using 2Q’s ~$0.20 fundamental EPS beat as an offset."
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