(RTTNews) - Personal products maker Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (EL: News ) on Friday said it now expects earnings for the first quarter before restructuring-related charges to be "significantly higher" than forecast, citing better-than-anticipated net sales and cautious spending. Shares of the company are up more than 4% in the regular trading session.

The company however warned it remains cautious regarding the economic climate and consumer spending throughout the year despite stronger-than-anticipated first quarter results.

The New York-based company, while reporting its financial results for the fourth quarter in August, had forecast earnings per share for the first quarter, prior to charges associated with restructuring activities, to be between $0.23 and $0.30. On average, seventeen analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $0.26 per share for the quarter.

At that time, Estee Lauder had also forecast net sales for the first quarter to decrease between 2% and 5% in constant currency and said it expects foreign currency translation to negatively impact sales for the quarter by about 3%-4% compared to the prior-year period. Analysts have a consensus revenue estimate for the quarter of $1.76 billion.

The company, whose brands include its namesake Estee Lauder, Clinique, La Mer and Aveda, attributed the better-than-anticipated sales for the first quarter to strong sales of new products, continued strong growth in Asia, higher passenger traffic in the company's travel retail business, and improved foreign currency translation. Earlier holiday shipments, which the company previously anticipated to occur in the fiscal second quarter, also aided results.
Estee Lauder said that its lower spending than planned during the first quarter reflected its measured approach to investing in light of the length and extent of the global economic downturn as well as the potential impact of the H1N1 virus. The company is slated to report its financial results for the first quarter on October 30, 2009.

In an effort to control costs and offset weak sales, Estee Lauder is in the midst of a four-year restructuring plan that includes cutting 2,000 jobs, or 6% of its work force, freezing merit raises and maintaining its hiring freeze.

Looking ahead, the company said it remained cautious regarding the global economic climate and consumer spending throughout the year despite stronger-than-anticipated results for the first quarter. The company expects to accelerate investment spending above first-quarter levels behind its brands and key priorities for the remainder of the year.

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