What happened
Shares of Williams-Sonoma (WSM 1.64%) were up 11% as of 12:00 p.m. EDT Friday after the home-furnishings retailer announced strong fiscal first-quarter results.
Quarterly revenue climbed 3.2% year over year to $1.241 billion, translating to a 21% increase in adjusted earnings per share to $0.81. Though the company doesn't offer specific quarterly guidance, both ranges were well above consensus estimates for earnings of $0.69 per share on revenue of $1.23 billion.
IMAGE SOURCE: WILLIAMS-SONOMA.
So what
Driving Williams-Sonoma's top-line growth was solid 3.5% comparable-brand revenue growth, as a 1.6% drop from its namesake stores was more than offset by increases of 11.8% from West Elm, 1.5% from Pottery Barn, and 1.2% at Pottery Barn Kids & Teen.
Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber called it a "strong start" to the fiscal year, including continued growth in both customer acquisition and engagement.
"We believe we are uniquely positioned to capture the significant opportunities we see in the home furnishings industry," she added, "and we will continue to build on our strong momentum to achieve our goal of maximizing growth and maintaining high profitability."
Now what
As such, Williams-Sonoma reiterated its outlook for full fiscal-year revenue of $5.67 billion to $5.84 billion, and it raised its target for adjusted earnings by $0.05 per share for a new range of $4.55 to $4.75.
Put simply, this report was exactly what Williams-Sonoma investors wanted to see as the company works to position itself for accelerated longer-term growth, and shares are understandably rallying in response.
