One year ago, Victoria’s Secret was in free fall.
Since spinning off from L Brands (now Bath & Body Works) in 2021, the stock had cratered from $57 to barely $20 a share on a good day. Once the arbiter of all things sexy, with diamond-encrusted bras and winged angels, Victoria’s Secret’s brand was being buried under all things unsexy: the founder’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, an awkward marketing pivot seen as “woke-washing,” tariffs, and a board that couldn’t stop fighting off activist investors, one of whom questioned, among other things, whether the new CEO, Hillary Super, could handle running a public company.
On Tuesday, with nine days to go before shareholders voted on that board, Super delivered the verdict in its first-quarter earnings: $0.60 per share, nearly double what Wall Street expected. Net sales jumped 15% to $1.56 billion, topping guidance, and the company raised its full-year outlook by $120 million, well above street estimates.
