The company also closed one factory store, bringing the total to 206 retail stores and 84 factory stores at April 1, 2006. In Japan, Coach opened three net new retail locations and expanded two locations as well.
The company now estimates 2006 sales of about $2.1 billion for the full fiscal year ending July 1, 2006, an increase of about 23 percent from the prior year, and earnings per share of $1.25 or up 36 percent from last year, compared with analysts' current consensus estimate of $1.24.
This reflects sales of at least $500 million and earnings per share of $0.28 for the fourth quarter, up 22 percent from the $0.23 reported for the fourth quarter in fiscal 2005. It should be noted that last year's fourth quarter included a $7 million tax benefit for FY05, all recorded in the period.
Excluding this benefit from the year-ago quarter, earnings per share are expected to rise 32 percent.
For fiscal 2007, Coach projects sales growth of about 19 percent to about $2.5 billion and earnings per share growth of about 20 percent to $1.50, compared with the analysts' current consensus estimate of $1.48.
The company also announced that it repurchased and retired 499,500 shares of common stock at an average cost of $36.64 during the third fiscal quarter, bringing the year-to-date total to 3,463,700 shares of common stock repurchased at an average cost of $32.85. At this time, approximately $136 million remains available for future repurchases under the company's repurchase program, which expires in May 2007.
marketing@alchempro.com
