The stock price of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) declined after the apparel retailer reported disappointing financial results for the second-quarter fiscal 2015. The shares of the company were trading at $23.41 per share, down by more than 8% at the time of this writing around 11:35 in the afternoon in New York.
Guess’ financial results
Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) posted earnings of $0.26 per share, down from $0.52 per share in the same period a year ago. Its revenue declined 5% to $609 million. The financial results of the apparel retailer missed the $0.29 in earnings per share on $618 million in revenue consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts.
According to Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) its revenues in Europe and Asia declined 6% to $235.3 million and 2.4% to $64.3 million, respectively. Its North American wholesale revenues dropped 7.5% to $38.3 million.
Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) said the revenues of its retail stores and e-commerce sites in North America declined 4.1% to $244 million during the quarter. Its operating margin dropped 560 basis points to 4.9% from 10.5% in the same period last year.
The apparel retailer’s operating earnings fell 55.4% to $29.9 million. Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) said its effective tax rate increase to 34.8% in the second-quarter.
In a statement, Paul Marciano, CEO of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) said, “Overall second quarter earnings were consistent with our expectations but were short of our operational goals due to a soft environment in North America, where traffic and promotional activity have continued to put our brick and mortar stores under pressure.”
Business outlook
For the third quarter fiscal 2015, Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) estimated that it would be able to deliver earnings in the range of $0.15 to $0.20 per share and revenue in the range of $590 million to $600 million. The company expected its operating margin between 3.5% and 4.5%.
Price target reduction
Following its weak financial performance, analysts at Telsey Advisory Group reduced their price target for the shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) from $31 to $25 per share.
On the other hand, analysts at Wunderlich also lowered their price target for the stock to $27 per share. Analysts at Mizuho also cut their price target to $22 per share.
