BofA Securities maintains underperform rating on Victoria’s Secret stock

Published 03/06/2025, 21:50
BofA Securities maintains underperform rating on Victoria’s Secret stock

On Tuesday, BofA Securities analysts reiterated their Underperform rating for Victoria’s Secret stock (NYSE: VSCO) and maintained a $20.00 price target. The decision follows the company’s announcement of preliminary first-quarter results, which reached the high end of its guidance for earnings per share and exceeded sales expectations. According to InvestingPro data, the company, currently valued at $1.66 billion, has seen 4 analysts revise their earnings estimates upward for the upcoming period, despite trading near InvestingPro’s Fair Value level.

Victoria’s Secret reported anticipated net sales of $1.35 billion, reflecting a 1% year-over-year decline, with an adjusted operating income of $32 million. This implies a margin contraction of 65 basis points. The adjusted earnings per share are expected to be $0.09, compared to the guidance range of ($0.10) to $0.10. Despite these results, the company has postponed its full first-quarter earnings release due to a recent IT security incident. The stock, which trades at a P/E ratio of 8.34, has experienced significant volatility, falling over 50% in the past six months.

The IT security issue, which occurred on May 24, led to a shutdown of Victoria’s Secret’s corporate systems and website on May 26. While the website was restored by May 29, the full restoration of corporate systems is still in progress. Some store functions at Victoria’s Secret and PINK locations were also affected, though most have been restored.

The company anticipates that the outage will negatively affect its second-quarter performance. Management has not specified the financial impact of lost sales or increased costs resulting from the incident. BofA Securities analysts noted the difficulty in achieving consistent sales growth and margin expansion, prompting them to maintain their current rating.

Victoria’s Secret continues to work on restoring its IT systems and assessing the full impact of the outage, with the market closely monitoring any updates from the company. The stock currently trades at $20.27, significantly below its 52-week high of $48.73, while maintaining annual revenue of $6.23 billion.

In other recent news, Victoria’s Secret reported preliminary financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2025, with net sales reaching $1.35 billion, surpassing its guidance range of $1.30 billion to $1.33 billion. The company also noted an adjusted operating income of approximately $32 million, exceeding the forecasted range of $10 to $30 million, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.09, above the previously guided range. Despite a security incident affecting its IT systems, Victoria’s Secret stated that this did not impact its first-quarter financial results but could have future financial implications. In response to substantial stock accumulation by BBRC International, the company adopted a "poison pill" strategy, also known as a shareholder rights plan, to prevent hostile takeovers. This plan is set to expire in one year and aims to protect the interests of all shareholders. Additionally, Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) maintained an Underweight rating on Victoria’s Secret stock, citing ongoing e-commerce challenges. The company’s recent IT security breach led to a temporary suspension of its website, which has since been restored. Victoria’s Secret continues to assess the full impact of the incident and is working with third-party experts to address the situation.

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