By Sabela Ojea
Shares of Urban Outfitters rose on Thursday after the conglomerate of apparel brands guided for further growth in the current year amid a long-awaited recovery for its namesake brand.
The stock rose 8% to $57.16. Shares have jumped 21% over the past 12 months.
The conglomerate of fashion brands and owner of Free People, Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters said it expects mid-single-digit sales growth for both the first quarter and fiscal 2026 as a whole.
Its bigger brands by size, Anthropologie and Free People, would lead the majority of the gains, as in the past few quarters, at a time when its parent company plans to open 15 Anthropologie stores, 20 Free People Movement stores and 16 Free People stores during the year.
Anthropologie is projected to deliver mid-single-digit growth in comparable retail sales for both the first quarter and year as a whole, Finance Chief Melanie Marein-Efron said on a call with analysts.
Free People's wholesale could see gains in the mid-single-digit growth range for fiscal 2026, with the first-quarter potentially exceeding the growth expected for the year. Overall, the company also expects its wholesale gross profit margins to improve by around 50 basis points to 100 basis points for both periods of time, Marein-Efron added.
Meanwhile, its namesake brand could be in a position to return to growth.
"Based on our current plans, the global Urban Outfitters brand could deliver a low-single-digit negative to flat comparable sales for the first quarter and flat to low-single-digit positive comparable for the full year," Operating Chief Francis John Conforti said.
Nuuly, its fashion rental business, will continue beating competition with views for "healthy revenue and profit growth in the first quarter and 2026," Conforti added.
Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 27, 2025 13:08 ET (18:08 GMT)
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