Victoria's Secret Lifts Outlook Despite Cooling Sales Growth -- 2nd Update

By Connor Hart and Kelly Cloonan

Victoria's Secret once again boosted its full-year outlook, pointing to progress against its turnaround plan, even as second-quarter sales growth cooled.

Net sales climbed 10% to $1.61 billion, just missing Wall Street estimates for $1.62 billion and marking a slowdown from the 15% sales growth the retailer logged last quarter.

Same-store sales, which exclude newly opened or closed stores, were up 9%, also marking a sequential slowdown.

Shares tumbled 15%, to $72.40, on Thursday. Despite the loss, the stock is up nearly 36% year to date.

Victoria's Secret, which also owns the PINK brand for teens and young adults, posted a profit of $183 million, or $2.18 a share, for its quarter ended Aug. 1, compared with $16.2 million, or 20 cents a share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings of 95 cents a share topped analyst estimates of 77 cents a share, according to FactSet.

Chief Executive Hillary Super said the quarterly results were driven by broad-based growth across the business.

"Our brands are stronger and more relevant, our customer file is growing, and we are gaining market share as product, brand identity, storytelling and execution are all working together," she said.

The latest quarter's results were solid, Jefferies analysts said. However, the readout failed to live up to investors' high expectations.

Shares were trading above historical norms going into the second-quarter report, suggesting that Wall Street had already priced in the retailer's improved underlying business fundamentals, they said.

"Against that backdrop, Q2 was good, but perhaps not enough to materially exceed elevated expectations," the analysts said.

Super sees further opportunity ahead, adding that the company will double down on the parts of its plan that are working. Victoria's Secret is investing more in marketing and plans to roll out more new products, partnerships and campaigns, including an upcoming docuseries and a bigger version of its signature fashion show.

"We are incredibly excited about the back half of the year and the opportunity to continue building both of these iconic brands," Super said.

Victoria's Secret also noted it received tariff refunds of more than $140 million in the recent quarter, representing nearly all of the tariffs it paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

For the year, the company said it now expects sales of $7.1 billion to $7.18 billion, up from its prior forecast of $7.03 billion to $7.13 billion. It also forecast sales of $1.57 billion to $1.6 billion for the current third quarter.

Analysts are looking for full-year sales of $7.14 billion, as well as current-quarter sales of $1.57 billion.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com and Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 03, 2026 12:57 ET (16:57 GMT)