Abercrombie & Fitch shares took a -22% nosedive in early trading Wednesday, following disappointing same-store sale growth and the company’s plans to close more stores.
The retail company’s same-store sales increased +1% during the fiscal first quarter, missing analysts’ estimates of +1.3% (based on Refinitiv survey of analysts).
However, the company’s total sales of $734 million exceeded analysts’ expectations of $733.4 million. Revenue was also higher from the year-ago quarter’s $730.9 million.
Net loss of -29 cents a share for the quarter was narrower than analysts’ anticipated -43 cents loss. The bottom line was also better compared to the year-ago quarter’s loss of -62 cents a share.
Looking ahead, Abercrombie said that it projects second quarter net sales growth to be flat to up +2% - which is a lower range compared to analysts’ estimates of +2.8% growth. For the full year, Abercrombie predicts that net sales growth would range between +2% and +4%.
The company also announced on Wednesday that it will shutter three more flagship stores — a Hollister store in the SoHo neighborhood in New York; an Abercrombie store in Fukuoka, Japan; and an Abercrombie store in Milan, Italy. That would bring the total number of flagship store closures since 2017 to five.