For the month of April, L Brands comparable sales were up 1%, but that's not what analysts were looking for. According to Bloomberg, analysts had estimated an average of a 4.8% increase.
But more jarringly, the shortfall was because Victoria's Secret's comparable sales fell 1% for the month of April, a rare miss for the company.
Victoria's Secret is famously a leader in the lingerie industry, taking in nearly $7.7 billion in sales (including e-commerce) in 2015, a time when other retailers were struggling.
So the drop freaked investors out on Thursday: Shares of L Brands dropped 12%.
In a statement, L Brands said that slip was because of softness in the lingerie sector, its core business, as well as its beauty sector. The younger sister of the brand, PINK, performed well.
For the entirety of the first quarter, comparable sales for Victoria's Secret were up 2%.
Recently, the company has executed some efforts that have led people to question its future.
Former CEO Sharen Jester Turney abruptly resigned in February. In April, the company released a notice saying that it would be restructuring the company and cutting roughly 200 jobs while doing so.
News recently broke that it would axe its swimwear collection, though that could be a move to help the brand evolve.