William Blair sees Lululemon raising Q4 outlook on ‘robust’ holiday sales

William Blair analyst Sharon Zackfia believes Lululemon’s “broad-based strength” continued in December and expects the company’s Q4 sales and earnings outlook will be raised in tandem with the ICR Conference, which is being held January 8 -10. In contrast to last year, when severe winter weather curtailed last-minute traffic, both the U.S. and Canada experienced unseasonably mild weather prior to Christmas this year, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Store traffic was “robust” during the firm’s pre- and post- Christmas checks, and similar to last year, there was little markdown activity prior to Christmas. Blair now expects Lululemon’s revenue growth to be nearly 16% in Q4, ahead of guidance of 13% to 14%, on a comp gain of about 13.5%. It keeps an Outperform rating on the shares and increased its Q4 earnings per share to $4.93 from $4.85.