Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ:LULU) stock plunges 18.13% (As on March 22, 11:21:53 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company reported weaker guidance as the apparel maker flagged a slower demand since the turn of the year amid weaker shift in the U.S. consumer that offset fourth-quarter results on both the top and bottom lines. The beat was driven by improved margins amid lower freight costs, with gross  margin rising to 59.4% from 55.1% a year earlier. Comparable sales increased 12%, with Americas sales up 7% and international up 43%. The Company ended 2023 with $2.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents compared to $1.2 billion at the end of 2022. It had $393.7 million of capacity under its committed revolving credit facility at the end of 2023. Inventories at the end of 2023 decreased by 9% to $1.3 billion compared to $1.4 billion at the end of 2022.  Income from operations grew by an impressive 191% to $913.9 million. The effective income tax rate for the fourth quarter was 28.1%, compared to 62.3% for the same period in the previous year.

LULU in the fourth quarter of FY 23 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $5.29, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $5. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 16 percent to $3.21 billion in the fourth quarter of FY 23, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $3.20 billion. Americas net revenue increased 9% and International net revenue increased 54%, or 56% on a constant dollar basis for the fourth quarter. Adjusted gross margin increased 240 basis points to 58.6%. Adjusted operating margin increased 110 basis points to 23.2%. The Company during the quarter opened 56 net new company-operated stores during the year, ending with 711 stores.

For Q1, the company sees EPS to be in a range of $2.35 to $2.40 on revenue in the range of $2.175B to $2.20B, missing estimates of $2.58 on revenue of $2.28B.

Looking ahead, the company forecast full-year EPS in the range of $14.00 to $14.20 revenue to between $10.70B and $10.80B. That compared with analyst estimates for earnings of $14.26 per share on revenue of $10.94B. The Company’s Power of Three ×2 growth plan calls for a doubling of the business from 2021 net revenue of $6.25 billion to $12.5 billion by 2026.