Lululemon Athletica Projects Disappointing 4Q Sales

Shares of Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) slumped nearly 10% late Monday after the company said it expects fourth-quarter sales to fall below Wall Street's expectations.

The sports and yoga apparel maker now sees quarterly sales coming in near the high end of an earlier provided range of $475 million to $480 million.

That would put them below average analyst estimates of $489 million, according to a Thomson Reuters poll.

Meanwhile, the Vancouver-based company lifted its EPS estimate to 74 cents from an earlier guidance between 71 cents and 73 cents, matching the Street’s view.

“Our store managers, key leaders and educators stepped up and did a fantastic job this year as the calendar compressed holiday shopping patterns into a couple of key weeks,” said Lululemon CEO Christine Day. "We are also pleased that our gross margin is running slightly ahead of plan, and that we are entering 2013 in a clean inventory position.”

Shares of Lulu were initially off as much as 10% following the announcement late Monday, though they regained some losses and were just down about 5% to $72.30 in recent trade.