What happened
Shares of Fossil Group (FOSL 6.98%) are up over 10% in midday trading Thursday, after the watchmaker reported second-quarter earnings that easily beat Wall Street's expectations.
So what
Because retail stores closed down due to the coronavirus pandemic, no one was expecting Fossil to report good news. It reported worldwide net sales fell 48% to $259 million, generating a net loss of $22.5 million, or $0.44 per share.
However, that easily beat analyst forecasts of just $181 million in sales and losses of $1.71 per share.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
With the watchmaker doing better than expected, and its stores reopening worldwide, the worst has likely passed the company. However, it does expect sales in the third quarter to drop between 35% and 45% from the year-ago period, though it is not providing a full-year outlook yet.
It's also a positive development that mall owners are reporting that consumers are returning in large numbers to their locations, though it's not a growth situation over pre-COVID-19 numbers. While Fossil generates most of its revenue from physical retail stores, it was able to report that second-quarter digital sales surged 138%.
