{"id":35964,"date":"2016-03-09T08:56:27","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T14:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=35964"},"modified":"2016-03-09T13:50:15","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T19:50:15","slug":"urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban Outfitters shares jump on year-end results"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Xuanyan Ouyang<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shares of Urban Outfitters Inc. soared 16 percent Tuesday — even though the company’s earnings declined – as investors reacted to the specialty apparel retailer\u2019s late-Monday release of fourth quarter results.<\/p>\n

For the quarter ended January 31, the Philadelphia-based company\u2019s net income dipped 9.2 percent to $72.9 million, or 61 cents a diluted share, from $80.3 million, or 60 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s per-share earnings managed an increase, even though actual profits fell, because a big stock-repurchase program has reduced the number of Urban\u2019s shares outstanding by 10.8 percent.<\/p>\n

Despite the company\u2019s weakened bottom line, net sales were flat at $1.01 billion in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Urban Outfitters\u2019 per-share earnings topped by 5 cents the 56 cents analysts polled Yahoo Finance had been expecting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile apparel sales under performed during the fourth quarter, I am pleased with the merchandise margin improvement delivered by the brands,\u201d said Richard A. Hayne, Chief Executive Officer of Urban.
\n<\/p>\n

Fashion retailers, including Urban Outfitters and competitors like American Apparel, American Eagle, and Abercrombie & Fitch have been struggling with headwinds for over a year. The softness in demand reflects stagnant consumer income, increased spending in other sectors such as education and housing, and competition from booming online shopping platforms. In addition, trending items such as electronics are increasingly luring young people to spend less on apparel.<\/p>\n

Urban\u2019s fourth-quarter performance cheered investors: in Nasdaq trading Tuesday, the company\u2019s shares rose $4.53, or 16 percent, to close at $32.69.<\/p>\n

The retailer’s stock skyrocketed, said Wedbush Securities Inc. analyst Morry Brown, mainly because the earnings were better than expected and \u201cgross margin got better,\u201d offering hope for stronger earnings going forward.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, non-apparel categories helped Urban. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, the home business, with the recent launch, is comping last year\u2019s book quite handsomely, very good response to that,\u201d said David McCreight, President of Urban Outfitters Inc. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing even the accessory business, beauty business, all track and move ahead, as well as intimates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urban Outfitters is placing new emphasis on those non-apparel channels and planning to increase investments in opening new stores, relocating and expanding current shops. The company is also catering to the trend of online shopping by enhancing its direct-to-consumer channel investments. In the conference call, the management said Urban will continue to invest in marketing and technology.<\/p>\n

\"Urban
Urban Outfitter’s non-apparel sales are playing an increasing role in the company’s profit picture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTop-line performance suffered from a lack of fashion trends and shifts to other categories,\u201d said Morningstar analyst Bridget Weishaar in an online review of Urban\u2019s earnings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think returns on invested capital will be limited in the near term by investments.\u201d Weishaar added. \u201cHowever \u201cWe think these investments are wise as the firm focuses on expanding its retail footprint, raising brand awareness, and enhancing the store and the web experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urban\u2019s full year net sales reached $3.45 billion, 3.7 percent up from $3.23 billion in the year-earlier period. Net income declined by 3.4 percent to $224 million, or $1.78 per share, from $232 million, or $1.68 a share in 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Xuanyan Ouyang Shares of Urban Outfitters Inc. soared 16 percent Tuesday — even though the company’s earnings declined – as investors reacted to the specialty apparel retailer\u2019s late-Monday release of fourth quarter results. For the quarter ended January 31, the Philadelphia-based company\u2019s net income dipped 9.2 percent to $72.9 million, or 61 cents a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":35974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,585],"tags":[2146,2147,2148,2145],"class_list":["post-35964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-winter-2016","tag-american-apparel","tag-fashion-retailers","tag-promising-stocks","tag-urban-outfitters"],"yoast_head":"\nUrban Outfitters shares jump on year-end results - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Urban Outfitters shares jump on year-end results - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Xuanyan Ouyang Shares of Urban Outfitters Inc. soared 16 percent Tuesday — even though the company’s earnings declined – as investors reacted to the specialty apparel retailer\u2019s late-Monday release of fourth quarter results. For the quarter ended January 31, the Philadelphia-based company\u2019s net income dipped 9.2 percent to $72.9 million, or 61 cents a […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-09T14:56:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-03-09T19:50:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/Urban-Outfitter-feature.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4032\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"xuanyanouyang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"xuanyanouyang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"xuanyanouyang\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/41cfadf8a69c45942313064da047853b\"},\"headline\":\"Urban Outfitters shares jump on year-end results\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-09T14:56:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-09T19:50:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":519,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/Urban-Outfitter-feature.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"American Apparel\",\"fashion retailers\",\"promising stocks\",\"Urban Outfitters\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Winter 2016\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/\",\"name\":\"Urban Outfitters shares jump on year-end results - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/Urban-Outfitter-feature.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-09T14:56:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-09T19:50:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/41cfadf8a69c45942313064da047853b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/Urban-Outfitter-feature.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2016\\\/03\\\/Urban-Outfitter-feature.jpg\",\"width\":4032,\"height\":3024,\"caption\":\"Urban Outfitters store in S. State St. in downtown Chicago.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Urban Outfitters shares jump on year-end results\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/41cfadf8a69c45942313064da047853b\",\"name\":\"xuanyanouyang\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7eaff2dad76db3e02c3c730ec21c73dbf05971ee02c7734c382e62b101700fde?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7eaff2dad76db3e02c3c730ec21c73dbf05971ee02c7734c382e62b101700fde?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7eaff2dad76db3e02c3c730ec21c73dbf05971ee02c7734c382e62b101700fde?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"xuanyanouyang\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/author\\\/xuanyanouyang\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Urban Outfitters shares jump on year-end results - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Urban Outfitters shares jump on year-end results - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Xuanyan Ouyang Shares of Urban Outfitters Inc. soared 16 percent Tuesday — even though the company’s earnings declined – as investors reacted to the specialty apparel retailer\u2019s late-Monday release of fourth quarter results. For the quarter ended January 31, the Philadelphia-based company\u2019s net income dipped 9.2 percent to $72.9 million, or 61 cents a […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-03-09T14:56:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-03-09T19:50:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":4032,"height":3024,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/Urban-Outfitter-feature.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"xuanyanouyang","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"xuanyanouyang","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/"},"author":{"name":"xuanyanouyang","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/41cfadf8a69c45942313064da047853b"},"headline":"Urban Outfitters shares jump on year-end results","datePublished":"2016-03-09T14:56:27+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-09T19:50:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/"},"wordCount":519,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/Urban-Outfitter-feature.jpg","keywords":["American Apparel","fashion retailers","promising stocks","Urban Outfitters"],"articleSection":["Business","Winter 2016"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/","name":"Urban Outfitters shares jump on year-end results - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/Urban-Outfitter-feature.jpg","datePublished":"2016-03-09T14:56:27+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-09T19:50:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/41cfadf8a69c45942313064da047853b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/Urban-Outfitter-feature.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/03\/Urban-Outfitter-feature.jpg","width":4032,"height":3024,"caption":"Urban Outfitters store in S. State St. in downtown Chicago."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/urban-outfitters-shares-jump-on-strong-holiday-season-profit-report\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Urban Outfitters shares jump on year-end results"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/41cfadf8a69c45942313064da047853b","name":"xuanyanouyang","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7eaff2dad76db3e02c3c730ec21c73dbf05971ee02c7734c382e62b101700fde?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7eaff2dad76db3e02c3c730ec21c73dbf05971ee02c7734c382e62b101700fde?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7eaff2dad76db3e02c3c730ec21c73dbf05971ee02c7734c382e62b101700fde?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"xuanyanouyang"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/xuanyanouyang\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}