North Face parent blows past Wall Street quarterly expectations, cuts dividend

Shares of VF Corp. rallied more than 6% in the extended session Tuesday after the maker of The North Face jackets and Jansport backpacks, among other outdoor apparel, reported third-quarter results that blew past Wall Street expectations and said it was exploring the sale of some assets and other actions to sharpen its focus. VF Corp. earned $508 million, or $1.31 a share, in the quarter, compared with $518 million, or $1.32 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned $1.12 a share. Revenue dropped 3% to $3.5 billion, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet expected VF Corp. to report adjusted EPS of 26 cents a share on sales of $2.7 billion. “We are committed to improving execution through a sharpened focus,” Interim Chief Executive Benno Dorer said in a statement. The company is shifting priorities, exploring the sale of non-core assets, cutting costs and eliminating non-strategic spending, Dorer said. As part of that goal, the company also declared a quarterly dividend of 30 cents a share, a 41% drop over the previous quarter’s dividend. “We are confident these actions will enable a return to profitable and sustainable growth and, with that, strong shareholder value creation,” Dorer said. Shares of VF Corp. ended the regular trading day down 0.5%.