Carter's 1Q profit up 28 pct on int'l, Web growth
Carter's 1Q income up 28 pct as company sells more clothing outside of US and online
NEW YORK (AP) -- Carter's Inc. reported Thursday that its first-quarter net income rose 28 percent as the children's clothing company expanded its overseas business and sold more clothing from its websites.
The Atlanta company makes the OshKosh B'gosh and Carter's brands. It sells clothing in its own stores in the U.S., Canada and Japan, online and through Wal-Mart and Target.
Shares rose $4.36, or 7.2 percent, to $64.85 in late morning trading, notching a record high earlier in the session at $65.36. The company went public nearly 10 years ago.
Profit from January through March came to $41.4 million, or 69 cents per share. That compares with $32.3 million, or 54 cents per share in the same months last year.
Excluding charges such as the cost of closing offices and a Georgia factory, earnings came to 79 cents per share, beating analysts' prediction of 69 cents per share.
Revenue rose 7 percent to $591 million. Analysts expected $578.3 million, according to FactSet.
In the U.S., Carter's brand sales rose 7 percent to $456.6 million while OshKosh B'gosh brand sales dropped 6 percent to $73.5 million. Online sales fueled the increase, as sales through other retailers fell both brands. For the company's own stores, sales in Carter's locations open at least a year rose less than 1 percent, while the same metric for OshKosh B'gosh slid 9.5 percent.
International sales jumped 30 percent to $60.9 million. The company said it made progress extending the reach of its brands outside the U.S. It has operations in Canada and Japan.
In the current quarter, Carter's expect adjusted profit to grow 14 percent, to 42 cents per share, while sales grow 10 percent, to about $519 million. That's slightly below analysts' projection of profit of 45 cents per share on revenue of $522.1 million.
For the whole year, Carter's expect adjusted per-share earnings to rise 15 percent, to $3.28, and for revenue to grow 8 to 10 percent, to $2.59 billion to $2.64 billion. Analysts expect profit of $3.32 per share on revenue of $2.61 billion.
