Estee Lauder Cos Inc (EL.N) forecast quarterly earnings far below Wall Street estimates as the cosmetics company said it suffered because of foreign exchange rates and would increase investments in advertising, sending its shares down nearly 7 percent.
The maker of Bobbi Brown, MAC and other cosmetics said on Friday that it expected to earn between 27 cents and 31 cents a share this quarter and that it would take charges of about $7 million, or about 1 cent a share, during that time.
Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn 41 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
For the second quarter ended Dec. 31, the company posted a higher profit as strong demand for its makeup and skin-care products lifted sales.
Net income rose to $396.7 million, or $1.00 a share, from $343.9 million, or 86 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding special items, the profit of $1.01 a share was in line with the analysts' average forecast.
Estee Lauder shares were down 6.7 percent at $54.90 before the market opened.
(Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Chicago; Editing by John Wallace and Lisa Von Ahn)
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