Carter's Q4 Earnings Beat Expectations, CEO Warns Of Impact From Lower Pricing In H1

Carter’s, Inc. CRI shares traded lower in the premarket session on Tuesday.

The company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.39, beating the street view of $1.92.

Quarterly sales of $859.71 million (+0.2% year over year) outpaced the analyst consensus estimate of $837.575 million amid continued momentum in the company’s retail businesses in Mexico and Canada.

U.S. wholesale net sales increased 7.3%, U.S. retail and international net sales declined 2.8% and 2.0%, respectively. U.S. retail comparable net sales declined 3.4%.

The operating margin for the company was 9.7% in the quarter under review, compared to 15.9% in the year-ago period.

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The adjusted operating margin was 13.4%, down from 15.9%, reflecting investments in pricing, marketing, stores and higher inbound freight rates.

“Our product, pricing and promotional strategies in the fourth quarter drove a continued trend improvement in traffic, conversion and comparable sales in our U.S. Retail businesses,” said interim CEO Richard F. Westenberger.

The company exited the quarter with cash and equivalents worth $412.926 million.

Dividend: On February 21, the company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.80 per share for payment on March 28, to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 10.

Outlook: Carter’s projects FY25 net sales to be between $2.780 billion and $2.855 billion, compared to the $2.80 billion estimate and expects adjusted diluted EPS to range from $3.20 to $3.80, versus the $4.95 estimate.

“Several factors are expected to weigh on our profitability in 2025, including some residual lower pricing in the first half of the year, higher product costs and the restoration of more normalized variable compensation provisions,” Westenberger added.

Price Action: CRI shares are trading lower by 1.63% to $51.21 premarket at last check Tuesday.

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