People walk past an Old Navy store on Fulton Street on April 11, 2024 in Downtown Brooklyn in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Hurricanes and unseasonably warm weather hit sales at Gap during its fiscal third quarter, but the apparel company still posted better-than-expected results, leading it to raise its annual guidance for a third time this year.
Gap, which runs Old Navy, Banana Republic, Athleta and its namesake banner, is now expecting fiscal 2024 sales to be up between 1.5% and 2%, compared with previous guidance of “up slightly.” That’s ahead of the 0.4% growth that LSEG analysts had expected, and bodes well for the all-important holiday shopping season, which is now underway.
The company is also anticipating gross margins and operating income will grow more than it previously expected.
Shares surged about 13% in extended trading.
Here’s how the nation’s largest specialty apparel retailer performed compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 72 cents vs. 58 cents expected
- Revenue: $3.83 billion vs. $3.81 billion expected
Gap’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Nov. 2