Why Urban Outfitters Stock Zoomed Higher Thursday

Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) stock exploded 21.4% higher through 11 a.m. ET Thursday after demolishing Q1 earnings forecasts last night.

Heading into the report, Wall Street analysts forecast Urban Outfitters would earn only $0.83 on less than $1.3 billion in Q1 sales. In fact, the retailer earned $1.16 per share on sales of more than $1.3 billion.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Image source: Getty Images.

Urban Outfitters Q1 earnings

Sales surged nearly 11% year over year for Urban Outfitters, with "comparable retail segment net sales" (i.e., same-store sales) increasing 4.8%. SSS growth was strongest at the company's Anthropologie brand, up 6.9%, with SSS gains of 3.1% at Free People and 2.1% at Urban Outfitters per se.

CEO Richard Hayne exulted over the "record first-quarter revenues and profits," highlighting "positive sales growth and improved profitability across all brands and segments." Earnings of $1.16 -- a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) number, by the way -- nearly doubled in comparison to last year's Q1.

Is Urban Outfitters stock a buy?

Management didn't give guidance on what to expect in Q2, but Hayne did forecast "continued success." Wall Street seems on board with the assessment as well, forecasting 15% earnings growth this year to $4.91 per share.

Assuming Urban Outfitters hits that number, the stock would be selling for 15 times current-year earnings, right in line with a 15% growth estimate. Even with no dividend to boost the stock's attractiveness, the worst I could say about Urban Outfitters today is that the stock looks fairly priced, and largely unaffected by President Trump's tariffs war.

Call me an eternal optimist, but Urban Outfitters stock looks like a buy to me.

Should you invest $1,000 in Urban Outfitters right now?

Before you buy stock in Urban Outfitters, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Urban Outfitters wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $644,254!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $807,814!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 962% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 169% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025

Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.