Guess? (NYSE:GES) Stock Price Up 9.6% on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) shares rose 9.6% during trading on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $11.16 and last traded at $11.00. Approximately 1,526,857 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average daily volume of 1,515,545 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.04.

The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $932.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $916.75 million. Guess? had a return on equity of 23.29% and a net margin of 3.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 16th. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio is presently 100.84%.

Guess? declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, March 25th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 38.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on GES shares. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Guess? in a research report on Friday. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Guess? from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guess?

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Comerica Bank lifted its stake in shares of Guess? by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 31,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $449,000 after acquiring an additional 1,852 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its position in Guess? by 216.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 2,299 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC lifted its position in Guess? by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 89,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,264,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Guess? by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 20,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 3,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Guess? by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 20,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 3,906 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

Guess? Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $11.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.82. The firm has a market cap of $561.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.16 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Guess? Company Profile

Guess?, Inc designs, markets, distributes, and licenses lifestyle collections of apparel and accessories for men, women, and children. It operates through five segments: Americas Retail, Americas Wholesale, Europe, Asia, and Licensing. The company’s clothing collection includes jeans, pants, skirts, dresses, shorts, blouses, shirts, jackets, activewear, knitwear, and intimate apparel.