Guess? (NYSE:GES) Shares Up 6.5% Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 6.5% during trading on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock traded as high as $12.37 and last traded at $11.71. Approximately 546,525 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 1,371,814 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.99.

The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.70) by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $647.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $630.61 million. Guess? had a net margin of 3.19% and a return on equity of 23.29%. The business's revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.27) EPS.

Guess? Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 16th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.24%. Guess?'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 187.50%.

Guess? announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, March 25th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 38.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Guess? from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of Guess? in a research report on Monday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guess?

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GES. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Guess? by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,274,565 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,040,000 after purchasing an additional 231,926 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Guess? in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,191,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Guess? by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,383,177 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,447,000 after purchasing an additional 167,782 shares during the last quarter. Tieton Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Guess? by 95.6% during the 4th quarter. Tieton Capital Management LLC now owns 463,726 shares of the company's stock worth $6,520,000 after acquiring an additional 226,705 shares during the period. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its holdings in Guess? by 123.8% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 42,022 shares of the company's stock worth $591,000 after purchasing an additional 23,247 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.74% of the company's stock.

Guess? Price Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $609.31 million, a P/E ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.54.

About Guess?

Guess?, Inc designs, markets, distributes, and licenses lifestyle collections of apparel and accessories for men, women, and children. It operates through five segments: Americas Retail, Americas Wholesale, Europe, Asia, and Licensing. The company's clothing collection includes jeans, pants, skirts, dresses, shorts, blouses, shirts, jackets, activewear, knitwear, and intimate apparel.

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