Updated 4:12 p.m. ET June 2
Sexy sells on Wall Street — and in the case of Victoria’s Secret & Co., very well.
Shares of the intimates retailer shot up 47 percent to $79.86, a blistering rate of ascent fed by a 15 percent sales increase in the first quarter, stronger earnings and a boost to the annual outlook. The company also traded for the first time under the “VSXY” ticker.
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Hillary Super, chief executive officer and architect of the company’s turnround, was relatively demure in an interview with WWD and described it as a “really nice quarter.”
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When Super became CEO in September 2024, Victoria’s Secret was at something of a loss — pressured by activist investors and failing to regain momentum after a stretch in the cultural wilderness.
It’s been a big change in such a short time.
“We were so transactional and value driven and now we are so emotional, tapping into how [the customer] feels about herself, being a place where she can be confident or feel great,” Super said. “It’s just a very different tone and a very different positioning and we’re driving this fun and brand heat through all of the activations. And so I just think it’s a place that she wants to be a part of the community.”
Super had her doubters when she joined, but has been heads-down focused on the turnaround.
“It was a really heavy lift,” she said. “I’ve been training my whole life for this. I’ve been focused on the female consumer since I was 15… That ability to tap into the female mind I think is a competitive advantage.”
Sales for the quarter ended May 2 rose to $1.6 billion with a comparable sales gain of 13 percent that showed a significant rebound from the 1 percent drop in the first quarter of 2025.
Earnings for the quarter ended May 2 totaled $48 million, or 56 cents a diluted share, up from a loss of $2 million, or 2 cents, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share hit 60 cents, almost twice the 32 cents analysts forecast.
Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, described it as, “An exceptionally strong set of numbers shows that Victoria’s Secret is not only on the road to recovery but is accelerating the pace.
“Much of that operational enhancement is the result of Hillary Super and her team having a very clear sense of direction that is guided by a firm focus on the customer,” Saunders said. “This has allowed brands that were previously a bit muddled to execute with much greater clarity.
“For the Victoria’s Secret brand, sexy is back — and has been for a while — but the cultural lens through which it is focused is about empowerment and self-expression, not objectification,” he said, adding that the change “allows the brand to have a clear and distinct voice in the market without all of the toxicity that previously surrounded it.”
But he also said that “expectations have been raised” and that “a little choppiness” can accompany a turnaround.
Victoria’s Secret is still headed for a standoff at its annual meeting, but the vibes around the company’s business are good.
The only thing that Victoria’s Secret and its current activist-antagonist — Brett Blundy’s BBRC International — seem to agree on is that the retailer is doing much better under Super. (But Blundy is still trying to get investors to withhold their votes for two directors, including chair Donna James, citing what he sees as prior missteps at the firm).
Looking at the first quarter, Super zeroed in on the breadth of the growth across the business.
The company’s two strongest demographics by annual income were those making under $50,000 and those making over $200,000, a split that Super said is meaningful.
“Under $50,000, she’s making choices to not buy or do something to participate with our brand,” Super said. “So we’re really creating that emotional value proposition for her. And then on the $200,000-plus side, she’s just got lots of choices and she’s coming to us, which to me is a validation of our brand heat.”
And that heat has translated to the various parts of the business.
“We saw double-digit growth in Pink, Victoria’s Secret and beauty across digital, across stores, across international,” she said. “Very, very consistent business.”
Bras saw double-digit increases and gained share during the quarter, according to Super.
“Bras are the heartbeat of the VS business,” she said. “It’s definitely the halo, but I think this team is just getting in its stride.”
Panties and sleepwear saw increases in the mid-teens, outpacing bras.
Pink is being driven by apparel still, but now also bras, which the CEO said have become “an equally big growth engine for us.”
And beauty, which is now getting play in all of the company’s marketing campaigns, is anchored by fine fragrance and mists.
To stoke the brand heat, Victoria’s Secret has been amping up its marketing, partnering with the likes of K-pop phenom Twice, model Hailey Bieber and basketball player Angel Reese.
And that seems to have helped strengthen the brands and translate to the top line.
“When you look at what we’re selling, things that are very clearly VS or Pink brand coded — whether it’s logoed or the Pink stripe — are doing crazy well in the assortment and really driving a significant amount of sales,” Super said.
The success on the brand side has let the company turn more of its attention to operations.
“There’s a lot of back-of-house stuff that we’re optimizing this year because last year was really the focus on brand definition, brand proposition, brand books, building out the team. It was very brand and product forward last year,” Super said.
“That work continues, but it’s in process now and it’s fine tuning, but there’s more back-of-house operational things to support things that are going on. Just making sure we are future-proofing our organization is a very top priority.”
This year, Victoria’s Secret is now looking for sales to rise to a range of $7.03 billion to $7.13 billion, from the $6.85 billion to $6.95 billion forecast in March.
Adjusted operating income is slated for $550 million to $580 million, up from the prior guidance of $430 million to $460 million.