Michael Kors has Momentum Heading Into the Holiday Season
Since its IPO in December 2011, Michael Kors Holdings Ltd has been a darling of Wall Street. Its success is based on its stature as a premiere luxury apparel brand offering accessories, handbags, shoes, jewelry, watches, and other items which are current with today's trendy fashions. Furthermore, Kors is also rapidly expanding internationally throughout parts of Europe and Asia, drawing more brand awareness with fans who love Michael Kors collections. On Nov. 5, Michael Kors investors received their latest glimpse into the company's prospects in its second quarter earnings release. Not only did the company perform splendidly, but it gave an interesting glimpse into the near-term future of this dynamic fashion company. Competitors Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) and Coach, (NYSE: COH) should be taking notice because if history is any indication, Michael Kors is just getting started.
Quarterly results and projections
On November 5 Michael Kors made another strong showing. Total revenue increased an eye-popping 38.9% to $740 million compared with $532 million last year. At the end of the quarter, the company operated 352 retail outlets not including the company partnerships with other retailers, like Macy's. In addition to these strong retail numbers, the company yielded a net income of $145 million, meaning $0.71 per share, and producing a 30% gain over the company's net income in the second quarter of FY 2013.
Looking forward, the company now expects revenues for its third quarter of FY 2013 to range from $845 million to $855 million and a comparable store sales increase of over 15% over last year. These estimates have also led the company to increase its full year 2014 revenue to be somewhere between $2.9 billion and $3 billion. Clearly the companies' products are still in high demand, but the company isn't resting on their laurels. Over the summer, Michael Kors revamped its fragrance line and beauty products, hoping to replicate the success that its handbags, shoes and watches have had. Michael Kors's luxury apparel and accessories are rapidly gaining ground all across the globe and given its size compared to its larger competitors, its hard to imagine anything but success for Michael Kors for the foreseeable future.
Giving the competition a run for its money
While luxury retailers have been performing well as of late, Michael Kors's major competitors Coach and Ralph Lauren have not been nearly as successful as Michael Kors in recent years. Both competitors are, in terms of revenue, currently larger than Michael Kors but as one can see from the three companies recent results, Michael Kors is quickly catching up. For its most recently completed quarter Coach, reported a 1% decrease in sales when compared to the third quarter of the previous year, and EPS of $0.77 which is precisely the EPS from the same quarter last year. Fashion leader Ralph Lauren also reported strong earnings for the quarter; however, the company fell short of the type of growth rates that Michael Kors is showing. In addition, Ralph Lauren had a 3% increase in its quarterly revenues on Oct. 22, 2013 bringing its revenues for the quarter to $1.9 billion. However, due to income tax rate differences and currency transaction costs, the company experienced a slight decrease in net income from $214 million to $204 million. Clearly the two larger cousins of Michael Kors are struggling to fend off the advances being made by Michael Kors, and shareholders of all three companies should be paying close attention.
Foolish takeaway
Michael Kors continued to give investors reasons to cheer with its strong quarterly results released on November 5, 2013. On top of its out of this world results, the company still has so much more room to grow. It plans on expanding its brand into other categories and geographic locations Based upon its size compared to major competitors Coach and Ralph Lauren, comparable store sales growth, and projected full year results, the company is likely to continue to give both investors and consumers reasons to look more closely at Michael Kors. All of these facts point to Michael Kors shareholders having a very merry holiday season.
The article Michael Kors has Momentum Heading Into the Holiday Season originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Natalie O'Reilly has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Coach. The Motley Fool owns shares of Coach. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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