Fossil Q4 tops Street on strong watch sales

Tue Feb 15 - Fossil Inc's quarterly results breezed past analysts' estimates for the eighth straight quarter, helped by strong global watch sales.

Fossil, which sells private-label products at mass-market retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp, forecast full-year earnings of $4.22-$4.32 a share.

Analysts on an average were expecting earnings of $4.28 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the fourth quarter, the company , which also sells jewelry, leather goods, belts, sunglasses and apparel, earned $96.7 million, or $1.46 a share, compared with $70.0 million, or $1.03 a share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 33 percent to $701.1 million.

Analysts had expected earnings of $1.35 a share on revenue of $649.8 million.

Fossil, valued at about $5.38 billion, said gross profit margin increased to 70 basis points to 57.1 percent, partly due to increased sales of higher-margin licensed watch brands.

Richardson, Texas-based Fossil's shares, which have gained nearly a quarter of their value since the company reported third-quarter results in November, closed at $83.51 on Monday on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by NR Sethuraman in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal)