Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF edged 0.4% higher in premarket trading Wednesday, erasing an earlier sharp loss, after the apparel and accessories retailer reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit that missed expectations but sales that beat and provided an upbeat full-year outlook. Net income for the quarter to Jan. 28 fell to $38.3 million, or 75 cents a share, from $65.5 million, or $1.12 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share fell to 81 cents from 91 cents and missed the FactSet consensus of 86 cents. Sales grew 3.3% to $1.20 billion, just above the FactSet consensus of $1.18 billion, as Hollister sales fell 4.4% to $639.4 million and Abercrombie sales jumped 13.8% to $560.4 million. “Results were driven by continued, strong momentum in the Abercrombie & Fitch brand and sequential improvement in Hollister as we continue to stabilize the brand’s performance,” said Chief Executive Fran Horowitz. For fiscal 2023, the company expects sales growth of 1% to 3%, while the current FactSet sales consensus of $3.71 billion implies just 0.3% growth. The stock, which had been down as much as 4.8% earlier in the premarket, has rallied 23.2% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 SPX has lost 2.6%.
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