Helen of Troy Ltd. (HELE) came out this morning with its fiscal first-quarter report, which included better-than-expected earnings per share. As a result, shares are up more than 9% today, making HELE a Zacks #1 Rank Top Performer.

Volume is well above average at approximately 465,000, compared to 181,000.

HELE is a leading designer, producer and global marketer of brand-name personal care and household consumer products. It is 1 of 3 companies from the cosmetics & tltrs industry on today’s 224-stock Zacks #1 Rank List, which also includes L’Oreal ADR (LRLCY) and Revlon (REV).

A Good Start to the Fiscal Year

Earlier today, HELE announced earnings of 47 cents per share for its fiscal first quarter, which was 34% atop the consensus of 35 cents. In the year-ago quarter, the company announced earnings per share of 42 cents.

Sales declined, but by less than 1% to $143.9 million, compared to $145 million year over year. Sales at the company’s Housewares Segment advanced 11%, while sales at the Personal Care Segment declined 5%.

“The economic environment remains challenging,” said Chairman, CEO and President Gerald J. Rubin. “As a leader in our product categories to our retail partners, we believe we are poised to effectively react to changes in the marketplace as they occur. We stand ready to take advantage of improvements in the future retail environment.”

Estimates Could Pick Up

Earnings estimates on HELE are already higher than levels from 2 months ago, but today’s report could start a new round of upward revisions.

At the moment, a consensus of 3 covering analysts are expecting earnings per share of $1.73 for the fiscal year ending February 2010, which is up 18.5% from 60 days ago.

It’s still very early, but analysts are currently seeing earnings of $1.91 for next fiscal year, ending February 2011, marking a year-over-year advance of more than 10%. The past 2 months has seen a gain of as much as 46% for the period.

Zacks Investment Research
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