Victoria’s Secret & Co. is showing some progress in the early stages of its turnaround bid.
On Thursday, the specialty retailer of bras, beauty products, lingerie and apparel beat Wall Street expectations as well as its own by reporting net sales of $1.46 billion for the second quarter ended Aug. 2, an increase of 3 percent compared to net sales of $1.42 billion for the year-ago period. VS had guided the market to a range of $1.38 billion to $1.41 billion.
Total comparable sales for the second quarter of 2025 increased 4 percent. Sales gains came despite Victoria’s Secret three-day website outage in May.
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Operating income for the second quarter ended Aug. 2 came to $41 million compared to $62 million in the second quarter of 2024. Net income was $16 million, or 20 cents per diluted share, compared to net income of $32 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.
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Excluding the impact of certain charges, adjusted operating income for the second quarter of 2025 was $55 million, which was above the previous guidance of $15 million to $35 million. That compared to last year’s second quarter adjusted operating income of $62 million.
Adjusted net income for the second quarter of 2025 was $27 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, which was above previous guidance of zero to 15 cents. This result compares to last year’s second quarter adjusted net income of $31 million, or 40 cents per diluted share.
Wall Street responded initially by lifting VS’ stock price up 5 percent to $24 in pre-market trading Thursday morning, before shares closed down slightly by 0.5 percent to $22.67.
VS raised its full-year outlook for net sales to $6.33 billion to $6.41 billion, compared to prior guidance of $6.2 billion to $6.3 billion. The company maintained its full-year outlook for adjusted operating income of $270 million to $320 million. This outlook includes an updated estimated net tariff impact of about $100 million for fiscal year 2025, which is $50 million higher than what was estimated in previous guidance.
For the third quarter, the company is forecasting net sales in the range of $1.39 billion to $1.42 billion compared to last year’s third-quarter net sales of $1.35 billion. At this forecasted level of net sales, adjusted operating loss for the third quarter of 2025 is expected to be in the range of $35 million to $55 million. Adjusted net loss per share for the third quarter of 2025 is estimated in the range of 55 cents to 75 cents.
“I am excited to share that our momentum continued building in the second quarter, once again delivering results that beat our sales and operating income guidance,” VS&Co chief executive officer Hillary Super said in a statement Thursday morning. “We delivered comparable sales growth in both Victoria’s Secret and Pink, in North America and across the globe, and in our stores and online channels. These results reflect disciplined execution, the power of the evolving Victoria’s Secret and Pink brands, and early progress on our Path to Potential strategy. The business was strong throughout the quarter and accelerated in July and into August, driven by product innovation, newness and evolved storytelling that is connecting with both existing and new customers.”
Victoria’s Secret is working on its Path to Potential strategic vision, which has the company recommitting to the Pink brand, reasserting its authority in bras, growing the beauty, sport and swim businesses and updating its go-to-market approach. The go-to-market changes will have the retailer reducing production lead times and updating branding strategies. While Super joined the company about a year ago, her three top managers were appointed within the last four months, including Anne Stephenson, the president of Victoria’s Secret; Ali Dillon, the president of Pink, and Amy Kocourek, who was named president of beauty.
VS&Co chief financial and operating officer Scott Sekella in his prepared statement added, “Importantly, despite tariff headwinds, we drove gross margin rate expansion in the quarter to go along with the sales growth, driven by disciplined inventory management and our evolving promotional approach in the business. Although we recognize that the macro environment remains uncertain, we are excited about the product newness and customer experiences we have planned for the second half of the year.
“This was our first full quarter under our refreshed leadership team and the impact was clear — sharper execution, reenergized culture and more high-emotion storytelling, delivering significant momentum as we enter the back half of the year,” Sekella added. “As we look forward, we continue to be optimistic about our future, our opportunity to further differentiate and elevate our brands and making even deeper emotional connections with our customers.”
VS in turnaround mode has been facing pressure from activist investors, pushing for board changes and improvement in financial performance.