Vera Bradley (VRA) reported earnings Wed 6 Dec 2017 (a/h)

** charts after earnings **

 

Vera Bradley beats by $0.09, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs below consensus 

• Reports Q3 (Oct) earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.14; revenues fell 9.9% year/year to $114.1 mln vs the $114.55 mln Capital IQ Consensus. Current year third quarter Direct segment revenues totaled $83.2 million, a 3.4% decrease from $86.1 million in the prior year third quarter.
• Comparable sales (including e-commerce) decreased 7.4% for the quarter (reflecting a 6.9% decline in comparable store sales and an 8.6% decrease in e-commerce sales) vs. ests near -3.6%, which was partially offset by new store growth (the Company opened one full-line store and seven factory outlet stores during the past 12 months). Comparable sales continue to be negatively impacted by year-over-year declines in store and e-commerce traffic. Indirect segment revenues decreased 23.8% to $30.9 million
• Co issues mixed guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.30-0.33, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.30 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q4 revs of $127-132 mln vs. $138.75 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. A gross profit percentage of 55.4% to 55.8% compared to 55.7% in the prior year fourth quarter.
• "Our ability to implement certain expense reductions in conjunction with the initial implementation of our Vision 20/20 plan more quickly than originally expected, along with diligent expense management, drove third quarter EPS (excluding the previously outlined charges) meaningfully ahead of our guidance."
• "As we discussed last quarter, we have launched Vision 20/20, an aggressive plan to turn around our business over the next three years. Vision 20/20 will restore brand and Company health by moving to a less clearance-driven business model combined with a meaningful reduction in our SG&A expenses. "In addition to resetting customers' pricing expectations and restoring our full-price business by significantly reducing the amount of clearance product available on verabradley.com and in our full-line stores, we are also focusing on streamlining our current product offerings by eliminating unproductive or incongruent categories and SKUs from our assortment. In addition, we are building more discipline into our overall assortment architecture by developing strong guardrails around introducing new categories, prices, and patterns." The majority of the product and pricing initiatives will be implemented beginning in fiscal 2019; management expects annualized revenues will be negatively impacted by these initiatives by $30 million to $50 million in fiscal 2019 from fiscal 2018 levels.