Shares of Bath & Body Works Inc.
BBWI,
gained 0.6% in premarket trading Thursday, after the home fragrance and personal care company beat fiscal third-quarter earnings expectations, but provided a mixed full-year outlook, amid margin improvement and benefits of cost cuts. Net income for the quarter to Oct. 28 rose to $119 million, or 52 cents a share, from $91 million, or 40 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of 48 cents beat the FactSet consensus of 35 cents. Sales fell 2.6% to $1.562 billion, inline with the FactSet consensus of $1.556 billion. Gross margin improved to 43.7% from 42.3%. For fiscal 2023, the company nudged up its adjusted EPS guidance range to between $2.90 and $3.10 from between $2.80 and $3.10 but cut its sales growth outlook to a decline of 2.5% to 4.0% from a decline of 1.5% to 3.5%. The stock has dropped 13.8% over the past three months through Wednesday while the S&P 500
SPX,
has gained 2.2%.
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