Photo Credit: Mike Mozart

Express Inc. (EXPR) Consumer Discretionary - Specialty Retail| Reports March 9

Rounding out the retailers, Express is scheduled to report fourth quarter earnings before the opening bell. Unlike its peers in the teen and young adult space, Express is coming off 3 consecutive quarters of better than expected earnings. In fact, over the past 12 months, shares have soared 40% after hitting 52 week lows in March 2015. A large portion of those gains came as a result of expanding ecommerce channels, continued promotions, conservative inventory planning and improvements on previously underperforming categories. Despite a tepid holiday season, Express reported 3% gains in comps for November and December 2015. Tomorrow, the Estimize consensus is calling for EPS of $0.66 and revenues of $775.65, 1 penny higher than Wall Street on the bottom line and $1 million greater in sales. Compared to the year prior, this represents a 34% increase in earnings while sales look to grow 7%. On average ,Express has consistently beat expectations, trumping Estimize 64% and Wall Street 78% of reported quarters. 

Express has followed a different path than many of its competitors. Strategic initiatives and improvements have led to positive same stores sales growth and higher share prices. The retailer’s biggest initiative has been expanding its omni channel networks. Like other retailers, ecommerce continues to be Express’s fastest growing segment. Moreover, conservative inventory planning ontop of strong performance from new collections are expected to drive growth in fiscal 2016. The company has made a concerted effort to frequently update its products and improve underperforming categories such as men’s and sweaters. The only concerns holding Express back have been weaker consumer spending and the disruptive force of fast fashion. Fast fashion retailers such as H&M and Zara are quickly infringing on traditional clothing retailers’ market positions. Tomorrow, investors will be eagerly waiting for updates on Spring trends, omni channel expansion and opportunities to drive further comp growth.