Coach Cuts 2Q Forecast On Poor Holiday Traffic; Shares Drop

   DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 

Coach Inc. (COH) cut its fiscal second-quarter guidance, citing lower U.S. customer traffic during the holiday shopping season.

Shares fell 6.7% to $19.51 Thursday in after-hours trading.

The luxury leather-goods retailer now expects earnings of 67 cents a share for the quarter ended Dec. 27, 10 cents less than its October forecast. A year earlier, Coach earned 69 cents a share.

Analysts were looking for per-share earnings of 74 cents, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Coach said second-quarter sales fell 1.8% to $960 million, less than its forecast of $1.05 billion. Same-stores sales dropped 13% in North America.

"Despite the heavily promotional environment, we maintained our retail prices, protecting our brand proposition," said Chief Executive Lew Frankfort.

Before the holidays, Coach said it was controlling expenses and introducing new styles in a range of prices to tempt shoppers. Its October forecast was better than some analysts had expected.

Because of the uncertain environment, Coach said Thursday that it wouldn't predict earnings for the second half or full fiscal year. It reports second-quarter results Jan. 21.

-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5975; [e-mail]

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