Elizabeth Arden's shares fall on 2Q earnings miss

NEW YORK (AP) -- Elizabeth Arden's shares fell Thursday after the cosmetics maker reported fiscal second-quarter results that showed weak holiday sales at department stores and one its major discounters and offered a disappointing outlook.

The New York-based company, which makes its namesake perfume and celebrity perfume bearing the names of Britney Spears and Justin Bieber, reported a 6 percent increase in net income to $44.8 million, or $1.47 per share in the three months ended Dec. 31. That compares with $42.3 million, or $1.42 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, earnings were $1.58 per share for the fiscal second quarter.

Revenue rose 8.8 percent to $467.9 million.

Analysts had expected earnings per share of $1.63 on revenue of $492.4 million, according to FactSet.

Shares fell 20 percent, or $9.50, to $ $36.37 per share in morning trading on the news.

"Our net sales results were below original guidance due to lower than forecasted sales in department stores as well as softer than anticipated holiday sales at one of our major mass retail accounts," Chairman, President and CEO E. Scott Beattie said in a statement.

For the full fiscal year ending June 30, Elizabeth Arden expects net sales to increase 9 percent to 11 percent, assuming an unfavorable impact from foreign currency of approximately 0.5 percent. The company posted revenue of $1.24 billion a year ago so that would mean Elizabeth Arden projects revenue to be anywhere from $1.35 billion to $1.37 billion for the current year.

It also now expects earnings per share between $2.30 and $2.50. That's reduced from the range of $2.55 to $2.70 per share it gave last November.

Analysts had expected earnings per share of $2.66 on revenue of $1.42 billion, according to FactSet.

For the third quarter, Elizabeth Arden expects net sales of $255 million to $270 million and projects earnings per share of anywhere from break-even to 4 cents per share. The net sales outlook for the third quarter assumes an unfavorable impact from foreign currency rates of about 0.2 percent compared with rates a year earlier.

Analysts expect 7 cents per share on revenue of $341.2 million, according to FactSet.