By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – Levi Strauss stock (NYSE:) jumped nearly 5% in Thursday’s premarket trading as the company raised its annual guidance for the second time and disclosed a $200-million share repurchase program.

Third-quarter numbers were not just ahead of the previous year period’s but also 2019’s.

Levi President and Chief Executive Chip Bergh said its acquisition of Beyond Yoga is helping establish it in the fast growing, high-margin premium activewear market as the company tries to capture “global casualization trends”. This shift to casual, sporty and leisurewear has been triggered by the pandemic. People are trying to find a way to combine work and life with clothes that suit all their needs.

Around 10% of all company-operated retail stores closed worldwide during the quarter. The majority of these were in Asia where there was very little traffic as Delta-variant Covid-19 spreads and countries impose restrictions on people’s movement. 

However, as more stores opened customers started shopping online. The digital contribution to the revenue dropped from 23% to 23% during the second quarter, and fell below 20% by the end of this quarter. At quarter’s end, only 4% were left open in Levi’s stores around the world. 

The global wholesale sales rose overall, and digital sales also increased. More than half of all revenue came from Americas. This region accounted for 52%. Europe’s revenue increased 27%, while Asia’s was 34%.  

The full-year adjusted, diluted profit per shares is now expected to average $1.44 (as opposed to $1.31 from July).

The net revenue for the third quarter increased 41% to $1.5 billion, while profit grew sevenfold to $193.3million. Both numbers were higher than expected.