05:09 AM EDT, 06/06/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with analyst comments in the last three paragraphs.)

Lululemon Athletica's ( LULU ) shares were up 9% premarket Thursday after the company reported higher earnings and sales for fiscal Q1, and raised its full-year earnings forecast range.

The company reported fiscal Q1 net income late Wednesday of $2.54 per diluted share, up from $2.28 a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Capital IQ expected $2.42.

Net revenue for the quarter ended April 28 rose to $2.21 billion from $2 billion a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expected $2.2 billion.

The company said it expects Q2 diluted EPS between $2.92 and $2.97 and net revenue between $2.4 billion and $2.42 billion.

Analysts polled by Capital IQ expect $3.06 and $2.45 billion.

The company said it now expects 2024 diluted EPS between $14.27 and $14.47 and still expects net revenue between $10.7 billion and $10.8 billion. The previous diluted EPS guidance was between $14.00 and $14.20.

Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expect $14.18 and $10.76 billion.

Evercore ISI said the quarter was "better than expected." The EPS beat in Q1 and raise to the year was an unexpected positive surprise amid a significant wall of worry heading into the print, according to the Evercore ISI note early Thursday.

For Q2, the company's guidance for gross margin falling by 100 basis points year-over-year is "conservative on our math and leaves LULU room to promote if it needs to drive the business until innovation accelerates in July," Evercore analysts, including

Michael Binetti, said in the note.

They said LULU's "strong" control of selling, general, and administration costs during Q1 was a good reminder that this business hasn't had to manage costs in a slower growth environment in a long time. But, it is "certainly capable of doing so to protect (or in the case of Q1, raise) the EPS, which we think adds a layer of downside protection for a stock near a 15-year low price-to-earnings."

Price: 338.23, Change: +29.96, Percent Change: +9.00