Ralph Lauren margins to fall
The premium clothing and accessories manufacturer's Q4 EPS rose 20% to $1.68, beating views by 5 cents. Revenue climbed 14% to $1.87 bil, above estimates for $1.83 bil. Wholesale revenue rose 11% to $3.5 bil on strong momentum in the Americas. Retail sales rose 5% to $845 mil on solid growth abroad. Gross margin narrowed 310 basis points to 56.2%. Ralph Lauren (RL) warned that profit margins in fiscal '15 will fall 0.75-1.25 percentage points as it plans to spend $400 mil-$500 mil on capital projects to increase its store count. Shares fell 2.1% to 148.81 after falling as low as 141.93 intraday.
