As the overall holiday picture crystalizes — with OK, but not outsized sales gains — more specialty retailers are weighing in with their own results, adding more color to the season.
What Wall Street sees is a mixed bag, at least when compared with its own expectations. A kind of consensus read on what 2026 might bring should start to come together as retailers and investors go over all the numbers and check the outlook at the ICR Conference in Orlando and the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York this week.
Here’s what key specialty players added to the conversation on Monday.
Lululemon said its fourth-quarter sales would be “toward the high end” of its previous guidance, calling for $3.5 billion to $3.59 billion, or growth of 2 percent to 4 percent, excluding an extra week in 2024.
That leaves open a little upside to the $3.57 billion in quarterly sales analysts had penciled in, according to Yahoo Finance.
But that’s still nowhere near the Lululemon of old, when the brand was a growth machine in the key North American market. The company is building back, but it will be a process as it is in the midst of a search for its next chief executive officer, who will take over from the exiting Calvin McDonald.
Tom Nikic, an analyst at Needham, said that over the past few years, Lululemon “has typically raised the outlook range for revenue, EPS, gross margin and SG&A ahead of ICR.”
“We believe the business continues to work through several challenges, both internal and external, and we’re awaiting greater clarity around the turnaround,” Nikic said.
But investors seemed satisfied enough and shares of Lululemon rose 3.2 percent to $210.45 in midday trading.
Urban Outfitters Inc.
Urban Outfitters said its brands boosted total sales for November and December by 9 percent.
That included a 9 percent comparable increase at the company’s Urban Outfitters business, while Free People was up 5 percent and the more promotional Anthropologie was ahead 3 percent. The Nuuly rental concept continued to grow quickly, driving subscription sales up 43 percent.
Francis Conforti, copresident and chief operating officer, who spoke at the ICR conference, said: “We tend to serve that sort of middle-income-and-above customer. And for us right now, the customer feels good. Overall we feel like the consumer’s in a good place. Unemployment is low. Job market’s good. Wages are growing. Inflation is much lower than where it has been. Honestly, the stock market’s up, which tends to put our consumer in a good mood as well.”
But the holiday pace was behind the 9.4 percent growth analysts expected for the quarter and investors weren’t feeling too bullish, sending shares of the company down 9.3 percent to $74 in midday trading.
American Eagle Outfitters Inc.
American Eagle Outfitters said that, through Jan. 3, fourth-quarter comparable sales were up in the low single digits at its namesake chain and ahead in the low 20s at Aerie.
The retailer also raised its operating income forecast for the quarter to a range of $167 million to $170 million, up from the $155 million to $160 million previously projected. “The increase largely reflects solid margin performance and anticipates consolidated comparable sales up in the range of 8 percent to 9 percent,” the company said.
“Our customers embraced new product collections and responded to our latest marketing initiatives, with strength continuing in the post-holiday period,” said Jay Schottenstein, executive chairman and CEO of AEO.
The company’s stock slipped 3.9 percent to $25.76 in midday trading.
