MW Victoria's Secret's stock is on track for its best day ever. It came down to better bras.
By Bill Peters
Lingerie retailer's shares jump 47% on Tuesday
Victoria's Secret reported first-quarter results on Tuesday.
Victoria's Secret has said that the turnaround it has been working on over the past year depends on making its bras better. On Tuesday, there were signs those efforts are paying off - in a big way.
Shares of the maker of bras, lingerie and sleepwear rocketed 47% higher, trading at around $78, on track for a record close and their biggest percentage gain ever, after the company raised its full-year forecast and highlighted bigger across-the-board gains with customers so far this year.
Victoria's Secret CEO Hillary Super said during the company's $(VSXY)$ earnings call on Tuesday that efforts over the past year and a half to adjust the fit and style of its top 10 bra frames have given the company room to sell newer offerings like bra tops and unlined bras. Those changes, she said, have drawn new customers and led to more purchases of other items.
Sales of bras grew in the low double-digits during the first quarter, she said, contributing "significantly" to the company's growth overall. Those gains, she said, were seen across its bra silhouettes and price points.
"When we win in bras, we create a halo across the entire VS brand," Super said.
She said the company saw double-digit percentage gains in the number of new customers buying from the retailer, with its strongest increases coming from customers in households earning less than $50,000 a year and those earning more than $200,000 a year. She also said the company notched same-store sales growth of 13%, its fourth straight quarter of gains, following a dip a year ago.
More customers in the 18-to-24 age bracket bought intimate apparel, management said. Valentine's Day, along with a partnership with entrepreneur and influencer Hailey Bieber, helped sales during the company's first quarter, the company said. Its Victoria's Secret, Pink and beauty products saw double-digit sales increases.
In March, executives said that over the past year, they had put bras back at the center of the Victoria's Secret brand. The company has faced competition from brands like Kim Kardashian's Skims.
Moreover, the sex appeal Victoria's Secret was known for in decades past has drawn backlash in recent years. The brand has been criticized for a lack of diversity in its clothing sizes and the models it uses to showcase them. In 2024, the company brought back its fashion show after pausing it in 2019.
The record gains for Victoria's Secret's stock on Tuesday arrived on the same day as the company's ticker change to "VSXY" from "VSCO" went into effect. Victoria's Secret (VSXY) announced that change last month, in an effort to celebrate what the company said was "sexy in all its forms."
"Our new ticker reflects our evolution into a business that is more confident in its identity and clearer about the opportunity ahead," Super said during the company's earnings call on Tuesday.
Raised outlook even as shoppers are cautious
Her remarks came as consumers remain sensitive to price increases, particularly for things like clothing. Higher gas prices due to the Iran war have been the most recent thing to make shoppers more cautious.
The company on Tuesday raised its full-year sales outlook to a range of $7.03 billion to $7.13 billion, up from an earlier range of $6.85 billion to $6.95 billion. It also raised its full-year adjusted earnings-per-share outlook to a range of $4.35 to $4.60, up from a prior range of $3.20 to $3.45.
The company also said it expects $1.59 billion to $1.615 billion in sales for the second quarter, topping Wall Street's estimates for $1.56 billion, according to Barron's.
Victoria's Secret said its outlook did not include any potential tariff refunds, which it said it would pursue after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump's emergency-powers tariffs earlier this year.
During the first quarter, sales rose 15% to $1.56 billion. Victoria's Secret reported adjusted earnings per share of 60 cents.
The stock is up around 285% over the past 12 months.
The same-store sales streak and the new customers are a signal that the brand's turnaround is materializing, Jefferies analyst Corey Tarlowe said in a note on Tuesday.
"This combination is key to us, suggesting the brand is not only retaining core customers but expanding its customer file at a mid-single-digit+ pace, reinforcing improved relevance and traffic trends across the platform," he wrote.
-Bill Peters
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June 02, 2026 15:34 ET (19:34 GMT)
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