Urban Outfitters Profit Falls But Tops Expectations
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Urban Outfitters said its earnings fell in the holiday quarter, marking the retailer's second consecutive decline in annual profit.
Still, results were better than projected, sending shares up 5.7% to $29.75 in late trading.
For the period ended Jan. 31, Urban Outfitters reported a profit of $72.9 million, or 61 cents a share, compared with $80.3 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier. The current year's results are based on a 16% decline in outstanding shares, helping the company preserve the per-share payout.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected 56 cents a share.
Gross profit margin--or the percentage of sales the retailer makes after accounting for production costs--was 34.5%, down slightly from 34.6%.
Sales, which the company had already reported last month, were largely flat from the year-ago period at $1.01 billion.
The Philadelphia-based retailer, which opened its first store in 1970 near the University of Pennsylvania campus, has expanded into a multinational clothing company with more than $3 billion in sales a year under the Urban Outfitters, Free People, Anthropologie, BHLDN and Terrain brands.
The retailer has reported a sales slowdown at its two largest brands, Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie Group, which also includes BHLDN and Terrain.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com