What: Shares of Coach (COH 0.11%) jumped as much as 11.6% early Tuesday after the fashion accessories specialist released solid fiscal second-quarter 2016 results.
So what: Quarterly revenue rose 4% year over year (7% on a constant-currency basis) to $1.27 billion, and translated to a 6% decline in adjusted net income to $188 million, or $0.68 per diluted share. Coach's bottom line included a contribution of $13 million, or $0.05 per share from last year's acquisition of luxury footwear brand Stuart Weitzman.
Analysts, on average, were anticipating lower adjusted earnings of $0.67 per share on slightly higher revenue of $1.28 billion.
"We are very pleased with our second quarter performance," said Coach CEO Victor Luis, "which was consistent with our expectations and reflected the most significant progress to date on our transformation plan despite the difficult retail environment globally."
To be sure, though North American Coach brand sales fell 7% (or 6% on a constant-currency basis) to $731 million, hurt by a 4% decline in comparable store sales, that marked another sequential improvement from last quarter, when North American Coach brand sales and comparable-store sales fell 11% and 9.5%, respectively. Meanwhile, International brand sales climbed 4% to $437 million, and would have risen 9% had it not been for the negative impact of currencies.
Now what: Luis added, "[A]s our momentum builds, we are targeting a return to growth for the Coach brand with continued improvement in comparable store sales, while Stuart Weitzman also drives top and bottom line results. We have a clear vision, a well-articulated strategy and a proven track record of execution."
For the full fiscal year 2016, Coach continues to expect Coach brand revenue to increase in the low-single digits on a constant currency basis, with currencies now expected to negatively impact revenue growth by 225 to 250 basis points. And thanks to Stuart Weitzman's outperformance on sales and margin in the holiday quarter, revenue for the brand is expected to be roughly $340 million on a reported basis, driving overall revenue growth to high-single digits on a constant currency basis and adding roughly $0.12 per share to earnings. In addition, because Stuart Weitzman is now projected to negatively impact consolidated gross margin by 70 basis points and operating margin by 20 basis points -- both improvements over previous guidance -- Coach increased its operating income outlook for fiscal 2016.
In the end, it's especially telling that this marks the first time in 10 quarters Coach has reported overall top-line growth. Combined with its modest bottom-line beat with the help of Stuart Weitzman's outperformance, I think investors are right to rejoice in this progress as Coach continues to implement its multi-year transformation plan.
