Ralph Lauren profit surges 83 percent

Profit surged 83 percent at Ralph Lauren in the second quarter with the company able to roll back some of the discounts it had been using to drive sales.

Strong growth overseas also offset some of the weakness the New York company has experienced at home.

Profit reached $109 million, or $1.31 per share. Adjusted for non-recurring events, per-share profit was $1.54, which was 15 percent better than industry analysts had expected, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue rose 3.3 percent to $1.39 billion, which is also better than expected.

Sales in North America fell 2 percent to $698 million. The decline in the company's largest market was offset by an 8 percent boost to $351 million in sales in Europe and a 19 percent boost to $248 million in sales in Asia. The company said those increases were due to both a shift in shipment timing and demand.

Looking ahead, the company expects second quarter revenue to be flat or down slightly.

Shares of Ralph Lauren Corp., up 87 percent over the past 12 months, rose 4 percent in early trading Tuesday.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on RL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/RL