Bath & Body Works tops Q4 earnings estimates

Yahoo Finance Live’s Julie Hyman discusses the rise in stock for Bath & Body Works following fourth-quarter earnings.

Video transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

JULIE HYMAN: Well, before we go to break, we got a Trending Ticker for you, and that is Bath & Body Works. The shares are higher by 4%. Interesting-- they were lower earlier. Now, they're getting a boost.

Now, there's a little bit of good perhaps, and a little bit of bad. Let's get to the bad first. The company came out with a forecast for earnings and sales that were way below what analysts had been predicting. For example, in the first quarter earnings from continuing operations, gonna be at most, $0.27. Analysts have been looking for $0.45 here. So obviously, that is a big difference here.

And the forecast for the year are similarly dismal. Friend of the show, Simeon Siegel, talking about in a note that perhaps this reset is going to be a good thing if the company sends-- plans to sell left stuff at a higher price, that would be good for margins. On the other hand, perhaps on the good side for investors, if they're looking for changes at the company, reporting that Dan Loeb's Third Point plans to launch a proxy fight against Bath & Body Works to try to force some changes at the company, including excessive executive pay, according to Third Point, and lagging financial performance. The company has fought back against some of his discussions. But we'll see what happens in that fight.