When your candle business isn't burning bright, Wall Street takes notice. Bath & Body Works, Inc. (BBWI) delivered disappointing third-quarter results on Thursday, and analysts responded by dramatically cutting their price targets and downgrading the stock.
The numbers tell a rough story. Bath & Body Works reported adjusted earnings per share of 35 cents for the third quarter, missing analyst expectations of 40 cents. Revenue didn't fare much better, coming in at $1.594 billion—down 1% year over year and short of the $1.634 billion consensus estimate.
"Our third quarter results were below expectations, and we are lowering our outlook for the remainder of the year reflecting current business trends and continuation of recent macro consumer pressures," said Daniel Heaf, chief executive officer of Bath & Body Works.
The forward guidance was even more concerning. The company expects fourth-quarter sales to decline in the high-single-digit range, pointing to a challenging start to the holiday season and weakening consumer sentiment. Management guided EPS to at least $1.70, substantially below the Street's $2.17 consensus. The company indicated it's taking aggressive actions to stabilize performance, but investors weren't reassured—shares dropped 2.2% to $15.47 in premarket trading.
Analysts wasted no time revising their outlook. Baird analyst Mark Altschwager downgraded Bath & Body Works from Outperform to Neutral and slashed the price target from $33 to $19. Goldman Sachs analyst Kate McShane was even more bearish, downgrading the stock from Buy to Neutral and cutting her price target from $39 to $17.
Those are massive reductions that reflect growing concern about the retailer's ability to navigate a deteriorating consumer environment. When macro pressures meet company-specific challenges, it's rarely a good combination for shareholders.
