Lululemon Crushed Following 'Slow Start' To The Year

Lululemon Athletica inc. LULU was crushed after hours Wednesday, following bad forward guidance provided by the athletic apparel brand's Q4 release.

The company managed to beat sales estimates, but a poor start to the year is sending shares south.

• Q4 Adj. EPS of $1, missing estimate by $0.01
• Sales came in at $789.9 million, missing estimates by $6.3 million
• Sees Q1 EPS of $0.25-$0.27, with sales of $510-$515 million vs. $552 million estimate
• FY17 EPS estimates are targeted at $2.26-$2.36, with full year sales of $2.55-$2.6 billion

"2016 marks a milestone year where our successful execution against long-term strategies returned the company to positive operating income growth for the first time in three years. These results reflect our strong brand and solid foundation now in place to drive our future performance," said Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin.

"Although we've had a slow start to 2017, our teams are passionately committed to delivering on our robust plans across product innovation, digital, North America and international as we realize our ambitious vision for the future."

The stock traded recently at $54.64, down 17.6 percent.