What happened
Shares of Movado Group Inc. (MOV -0.52%) were up 16.5% as of 12:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday after the watchmaker announced strong quarterly results.
For Movado's fiscal first quarter ended April 30, 2018, net sales grew 28.1% year over year (22.1% in constant currency) to $127.1 million, including roughly $2.2 million related to the adoption of new accounting standards. On the bottom line, that translated to adjusted earnings of $8.7 million, or $0.37 per share, up from $0.01 per share in the same year-ago period.
By comparison, most investors were only looking for earnings of $0.11 per share on revenue of $109.5 million.
Image source: Movado.
So what
Movado Chairman and CEO Efraim Grinberg called it a "strong start to the year," crediting the company's "powerful portfolio of owned and licensed brands, including last year's acquisition of Olivia Burton parent JLB Brands.
"Our first quarter results reflect the team's consistent ability to bring innovation to market that resonates with consumers around the world," Grinberg added, "which was further enhanced by the execution of our strategic growth priorities."
Now what
Given its outperformance in the fiscal first quarter, Movado also increased its full-year guidance to call for sales of $615 million to $625 million (up from $605 million to $615 million previously), and net income per share of $2.35 to $2.40.
All things considered, this was a straightforward beat-and-raise scenario from Movado, and I think the market is right to bid the stock up to a fresh 52-week high in response.
