12:22 PM EST, 11/20/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Bath & Body Works' ( BBWI ) shares plunged on Thursday after the company lowered its full-year guidance and flagged a "very challenging" start to the key holiday season.

For fiscal 2025, the personal care and home fragrance retailer now anticipates adjusted earnings to be "at least" $2.87 per share, compared with its prior estimate of $3.35 to $3.60. The current consensus on FactSet is for non-GAAP EPS of $3.41.

Full-year sales are now pegged to decline by a low single digit, compared with the prior outlook of 1.5% to 2.7% growth. Analysts are looking for sales of $7.45 billion, down from the previous year's $7.31 billion.

The stock slumped 24% intraday, and has sunk 59% so far this year.

Chief Financial Officer Eva Boratto described the start to the holiday season as "very challenging."

For the fiscal fourth quarter, the company expects EPS of at least $1.70, down from $2.09 a year earlier. Analysts expect GAAP EPS of $2.17 and adjusted EPS of $2.18. The company sees net sales to be down high single digits.

"Recent data shows consumer confidence continue to decline due to a number of factors, including concerns about job loss and affordability," Boratto said during an earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. "This dynamic negatively affected our start to the holiday season and our largest quarter. This impact is compounded by a highly competitive retail marketplace."

For the quarter ended Nov. 1, the company's adjusted EPS fell to $0.35 from $0.49 a year earlier, while analysts expected $0.39. Sales dropped 1% to $1.59 billion, below the consensus of $1.63 billion.

Revenue from stores in the US and Canada was largely flat at $1.22 billion, while direct sales slumped 7% to $299 million.

"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," Chief Executive Daniel Heaf said in a statement. "While this is disappointing, we are acting swiftly and decisively to position the business for sustainable, long-term growth."

The company simultaneously announced a new strategy that aims to deliver new products and acquire new consumers. The plan is to generate $250 million in cost savings over next two years.

The old strategy "has not delivered the growth we expected and it reduced focus in investing in our core categories," Heaf, who assumed the CEO role in May, told analysts on the call. "Overreliance on promotion delivers diminishing returns and erodes brand equity and that is what has happened here. While all these efforts appealed to our existing consumers, they did not grow our customer base and we have not attracted a younger consumer."

Price: 16.06, Change: -4.99, Percent Change: -23.69