Why lululemon athletica's Shares Dropped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of yoga-gear giant lululemon athletica (NAS: LULU) were getting bent the wrong way by the market today, falling as much as 13% in intraday trading after the company reported first-quarter results.

So what: The question many investors may be asking themselves is this: How in the world does a company grow revenue 53%, same-store sales 25%, and earnings per share 39% and still see its shares fall? It was indeed another great quarter for lululemon and the $0.32 in first-quarter per-share earnings that it posted did top analysts' estimates. But the company's forecast wasn't quite as nice.

For both the second quarter and full year, lululemon's updated guidance pegs its financial performance below Wall Street's targets. The midpoints of the respective second quarter and full-year EPS ranges are $0.29 and $1.58 versus analyst estimates of $0.33 and $1.63.

Now what: At the midpoint of its EPS guidance, lululemon would see 25% year-over-year growth. That's nothing to sneeze at, but it's disappointing when long-term growth estimates call for 27% annual growth and the stock trades at an aggressive 50 times trailing earnings.

So the takeaway for lululemon shareholders today is that the company itself is performing very well and managing some impressive growth. But because high hopes have been built into the stock price, the stock's reaction today is divorced from the company's solid performance.

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