Estée Lauder gave a disappointing outlook for profit.
Gabby Jones/Bloomberg
Estée Lauder
stock dipped early Thursday after the luxury beauty brand said sales got hit due to Covid-19 cases in China and shared a disappointing outlook.
The company (ticker: EL) delivered adjusted earnings per share of $1.54 for the December ended quarter, higher than the $1.29 consensus among analysts tracked by
FactSet.
Sales in the fiscal second quarter dipped by 17% versus a year ago to $4.62 billion, narrowly beating analysts’ consensus estimates.
“Product shipments to Hainan remained largely curtailed and traffic in bricks-and-mortar in the rest of China was limited,” the press release said. Hainan is a province in southern China.
The stock fell 2.8% to $273.00 in premarket trading Thursday. It was Barron’s stock pick last year.
The poor outlook exaggerated the fall.
Estée Lauder
said for the three months ending in March earnings are expected to be 32 cents to 43 cents per share, lower than a year ago and significantly below analysts’ projection of $1.78 per share.
The company said it expects the remainder of the fiscal year, ending in June, to be volatile, including risks associated with the uncertain pace of recovery of consumers in travel retail.
Write to Karishma Vanjani at karishma.vanjani@dowjones.com
Credit: marketwatch.com