Lululemon Craters 20% After Slashing Guidance

Lululemon shares cratered after the ridiculously overpriced maker of butt pushup tights cut its profit outlook for the full year and projected lower-than-expected sales for the current quarter.

The company now projects sales in the range of $2.54 billion to $2.56 billion for its fiscal second quarter, lower than the average analyst estimate. For the full year, Lululemon reduced its earnings per share outlook by about 2.5%.

Here is what LULU reported for Q1: 

• EPS $2.60, in line with estimate $2.60
• Net revenue $2.37 billion, beating estimate $2.36 billion
  • China Mainland net revenue $368.1 million, missing estimate $378.7 million
  • Rest of World net revenue $328 million, missing estimate $328.7 million
• Total comp sales constant currency +1%, estimate +2.76%
  • Americas comp sales in constant currency -1%, estimate -1.34%
  • International Comp Sales Ex-Fx +7%
• Gross margin 58.3%, beating estimate of 57.7%
• Operating margin 18.5%, beating estimates of 18.4%
• Inventory $1.65 billion, higher than estimates of $1.55 billion
• Total location count 770, estimate 770.05

While the Q1 results were generally ok, comparable-store sales were disappointing growing only 1%, and short of the estimate of 2.8%. The Americas business posted negative comparable-store sales in the period.

But it got much worse when the company revealed its latest forecast: 

Q2 forecast: 

• Net revenue $2.54 billion to $2.56 billion, missing estimates of $2.57 billion (Bloomberg Consensus)
• Sees EPS $2.85 to $2.90, badly missing estimate $3.31

2026 Full year forecast 

• Sees EPS $14.58 to $14.78, slashing the previous range of $14.95 to $15.15, and missing estimate $14.91
• Still sees net revenue $11.15 billion to $11.3 billion, below the estimate $11.29 billion

Or putting it sideways:

$LULU Earnings Summary below:

Q1 2024 Q1 2025 pic.twitter.com/vXOjTb2y4N

—  Q-Cap  (@qcapital2020) June 5, 2025

The market was not expecting this from the former growth darling and Lululemon shares fell over 20% at 4:45 pm in afterhours trading. The stock has declined nearly 14% so far this year through Thursday’s close.

While CEO Calvin McDonald was looking to double Lululemon’s sales from their 2021 level and hit $12.5 billion by 2026, growth has slowed as the retailer struggles to cope with cautious shoppers, higher inflation and growing competition.

Management has tried to lift demand by entering new product categories and expanding its offerings to sports such as running, tennis and golf. Lululemon is also dealing with shifts in fashion trends, with more consumers – supposedly those who ran out of money for ozempic – opting for baggier styles instead of the form-fitting yoga pants for which the brand is best known.

So far, all those efforts have clearly failed and the stock reflects it in after hours trading where it has lost almost 25% of its value.