MW Lululemon hopes more new gear will revive sales. Wall Street thinks it might not be enough.

By Bill Peters

Yoga-wear maker reports earnings results as founder tries to shake up the board. A Jefferies analyst says Lululemon's forecast suggests challenges endure.

Lululemon reported quarterly results on Tuesday.

Shares of Lululemon Athletica fell after hours Tuesday toward six-year lows after the yoga-wear maker's financial forecast for this year came in below Wall Street's expectations, and as management's optimism about new product launches runs up against questions about sluggish sales growth and its future leadership.

Lululemon (LULU) on Tuesday also said that Chip Bergh, the former CEO of Levi Strauss $(LEVI)$, had joined Lululemon's board, which the company's founder wants to shake up. Lululemon said Bergh had "a proven record of guiding successful transformations."

Lululemon's stock fell 2.3% after hours on Tuesday. If that holds, it would put shares at the lowest prices since March 2020.

Lululemon announced its fourth-quarter results and forecast as Wall Street's expectations remain low. The selection process for a new CEO, who would lead Lululemon's turnaround after Calvin McDonald's departure, has been the primary focus for many analysts.

The company has dealt with questions about competition and its sense of style, as it tries to regain fashion relevance with new gear. And it has faced questions over product quality, following fabric issues with its Get Low line of workout wear. During Lululemon's earnings call on Tuesday, executives said that in North America, they wanted new products to make up around a third of its selection this year, up from last year.

"We recognize there is more work to be done, and we have been course-correcting on a number of fronts," Meghan Frank, one of Lululemon's interim co-CEOs, said on the earnings call. "But we are encouraged by the guests' response to our recent new product drops and activations."

Still, Jefferies analysts late Tuesday said the weaker outlook suggested that difficulties persist at the athleisure giant. As of Tuesday's close, shares were down nearly 52% over the past 12 months.

Lululemon said it expects sales of $11.35 billion to $11.5 billion this year, with the midpoint of that range below the average $11.5 billion forecast of analysts surveyed by FactSet. Management projects earnings per share of $12.10 to $12.30, well below the FactSet consensus of $12.51.

Lululemon said fourth-quarter sales rose 1% to $3.64 billion, with earnings per share of $5.01. Both were above Wall Street's estimates.

Same-store sales rose 3%, above analysts' expectations for a 0.3% increase. However, those sales fell in the Americas, and were propped up by a 20% jump in international sales.

Frank, in a statement, said that improving full-price sales this year was a primary objective for the company, following signs of continued discounting. Andre Maestrini, one of Lululemon's interim co-CEOs, said that the company was encouraged by "the initial response to our recent product launches."

Lululemon said Bergh, the new board appointee, will stand for election at its 2026 annual shareholder meeting in place of David Mussafer, who said he would not stand for re-election at the end of his current term.

Chip Wilson, Lululemon's founder and a major shareholder, has launched a campaign to add three people to Lululemon's board, which he has said doesn't understand the company or its consumers. His choices are Marc Maurer, former co-CEO of On Holding $(ONON)$; Laura Gentile, a former chief marketing officer at ESPN; and Eric Hirshberg, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard's Activision business.

In a statement on Tuesday before the results, Wilson said he would be focused on the way Lululemon addressed some of its missteps, as well as continued markdowns of its gear at stores - a sign of weaker demand.

"Shareholders should understand whether the board recognizes the relationship between a dollar discounted and the fall in brand power," he said. "Each dollar lost from discounting is a dollar that could have been invested into expanding the power of the Lululemon brand."

-Bill Peters

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March 17, 2026 18:05 ET (22:05 GMT)

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