Guess? (NYSE:GES) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

Shares of Guess?, Inc. (NYSE:GES) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $25.95, but opened at $31.00. Guess? shares last traded at $31.94, with a volume of 855,530 shares trading hands.

The company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $891.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $855.54 million. Guess? had a net margin of 7.14% and a return on equity of 32.96%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share.

Guess? Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. Guess?’s dividend payout ratio is 41.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GES has been the subject of a number of research reports. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on shares of Guess? from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Guess? from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 price target (up previously from $31.00) on shares of Guess? in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Guess? from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guess?

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GES. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Guess? in the 4th quarter worth about $23,062,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Guess? by 134.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,439,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,995,000 after acquiring an additional 824,836 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Guess? by 147.8% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,378,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,828,000 after acquiring an additional 822,089 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Guess? by 158.6% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,170,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,220,000 after acquiring an additional 717,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Guess? during the 3rd quarter worth about $13,335,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.74% of the company’s stock.

Guess? Trading Down 2.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.10. The company has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.96.

Guess? Company Profile

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.