06:29 AM EDT, 05/22/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Urban Outfitters' ( URBN ) stock gained early Wednesday after the clothing retailer recorded better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results, buoyed by sales growth across the majority of its brands.

Per-share adjusted earnings came in at $0.69 for the three months through April, up from $0.56 the year before, the company said late Tuesday. The consensus on Capital IQ was for normalized EPS of $0.53. Sales advanced 7.8% to $1.2 billion, topping the Street's view for $1.18 billion. Shares spiked nearly 7% in premarket activity.

"Four of our five brands posted record first-quarter revenue and three posted record operating income," Chief Executive Richard Hayne said during an earnings call, according to a Capital IQ transcript. "The Anthropologie, Free People, FP Movement and Nuuly brands all produced double-digit revenue growth."

In the retail segment, revenue nudged higher to $1.06 billion from $1 billion in the 2023 quarter. Retail comparable sales inclined 4.6%, above the 3.1% increase modeled by analysts, driven by high-single-digit growth online and low-single-digit gain in stores. Wholesale revenue inclined 3.4% to $60.1 million, while sales in its Nuuly clothing subscription and resale brand climbed to $77.9 million from $51.5 million.

The Anthropologie brand logged sales of $526.4 million versus $473.6 million a year earlier, as same-store sales moved 10% up. Revenue in Free People, which includes the FP Movement brand, rose to $318.7 million from $273.7 million with comparable sales jumping 17%.

The company's namesake Urban Outfitters brand dropped to $270.3 million from $308.7 million, including a 14% slump in comparable sales, as a result of "disappointing performance in both North America and Europe," Chief Operating Officer Francis Conforti said on the call. The retailer has begun to make changes in how the brand operates, including reducing some prices in several product categories and changing its marketing strategy by investing more in social media, according to Hayne.

Urban Outfitters ( URBN ) anticipates a potential mid-single-digit growth in sales for the ongoing quarter, Chief Financial Officer Melanie Marein-Efron told analysts. Overall sales growth could outpace low-single-digit growth in retail comparable sales and wholesale revenue, while the Nuuly division could see mid-double-digit growth in the second quarter, she added.

"We are pleased that overall consumer demand has remained strong to start the quarter, and we're planning for this strength to continue throughout the second quarter," Marein-Efron said. The company is also planning to open about 57 new stores in fiscal 2025 and close roughly 21 branches.

Price: 44.30, Change: +2.98, Percent Change: +7.21