Victoria's Secret sees strong sales for bras and 'Pink' line, but not enough to satisfy investors

By Tomi Kilgore

The company delivers sales near the high end of its forecasted range, but Wall Street was expecting more, and the stock suffers its worst day in more than a year

Victoria's Secret's stock fell Thursday after a slight sales miss offset a profit beat and raised outlook.

Shares of Victoria's Secret took a dive Thursday, as investors had high hopes for the lingerie maker's fiscal second-quarter earnings report but were disappointed by a slight sales miss.

The optimism had been fueled by the company's first-quarter report, which pleased investors so much that the stock (VSXY) rocketed 47.4% for its best one-day performance ever in June. Since then, sales and profit expectations have increased, with UBS analyst Mauricio Serna saying earlier this month that the company had maintained "robust sales momentum" during the quarter.

The company reported net sales for the quarter to Aug. 1 that rose 10.4% from a year ago to $1.611 billion, which was at the high end of the company's previously provided outlook of $1.59 billion to $1.615 billion.

"Two areas stood out: bras and Pink," CEO Hillary Super said on the post-earnings call with analysts, according to a FactSet transcript. The bras business saw sales growth in the mid-teens percentage range, while the Pink brand "delivered another quarter of growth, with strength in bras, panties and apparel."

But Wall Street was expecting even more, with an average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet of $1.62 billion. The results snapped a nine-quarter streak of top-line beats.

The stock plunged as much as 25% in premarket trading soon after the results, before paring losses. The stock closed down 13%, to a three-month low and its biggest one-day selloff since it sank 22.6% on April 3, 2025.

Other than the sales miss, the results beat expectations.

Comparable sales, or sales of stores open at least a year, rose 9% from a year ago, down from 13% the last quarter but above the FactSet consensus of 8.8% growth.

Net income jumped to $183 million from just $16.2 million a year ago, after results were boosted by tariff refunds of more than $140 million. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to 95 cents from 33 cents and beat the FactSet consensus of 77 cents.

Looking ahead, the company raised its outlook for full-year net sales to a range of $7.1 billion to $7.18 billion from a range of $7.03 billion to $7.13 billion, and boosted its outlook for EPS to a range of $4.45 to $4.70 from a range of $4.35. to $4.60.

That outlook may have also disappointed investors, given that quarterly EPS beat expectations by 18 cents but the outlook range for the full year was raised by just 10 cents.

The stock has soared 221% over the past 12 months, while the State Street SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded fund XRT, of which the stock is a component, has edged up 1.8% and the S&P 500 index SPX has advanced 19.6%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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09-03-26 1752ET