L Brands shares rise on Victoria's Secret owner's earnings beat, first-quarter outlook

Victoria's Secret parent L Brands on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped analysts' estimates, but sales fell short due to weakness at its lingerie brand.

Although the retailer isn't offering an outlook for the full year, due to the uncertainty around the pandemic and the pending separation of its Victoria's Secret brand from Bath & Body Works, it provided an upbeat outlook for the first quarter, saying it's building on the momentum it saw over the holidays.

L Brands shares rose more than 4% in after-hours trading.

Here's how the company did during its fourth quarter ended Jan. 30 compared with what analysts were expecting, based on Refinitiv data:

• Earnings per share: $3.03 vs. $2.91 expected
• Revenue: $4.82 billion vs. $4.87 billion expected

L Brands posted net income of $860.3 million, or $3.03 per share, compared with a loss of $192.3 million, or 70 cents a share, a year earlier. The results toppe the $2.91 per share forecast by analysts.

Net sales grew to $4.82 billion from $4.71 billion a year ago. That was short of the $4.87 billion expected by analysts.

Same-store sales rose 10%, better than the 6.7% forecast by a Refinitiv survey.

L Brands is set to hold a conference call with analysts Thursday morning to discuss the latest results.

L Brands shares are up 119% over the past 12 months, as of Wednesday's market close. It has a market cap of $14.36 billion.

Find the full press release here.

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