Shares of Under Armour Inc. (UA) hit a 52-week high of $110.00 on Feb 7, 2014 buoyed by the outstanding fourth-quarter 2013 results of this sports apparel retailer. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock closed at $109.18 on the last trading day, amassing a significantly high return of 118.6% over the past one year.
The company emerged strong amidst an environment where many retailers grappled with aggressive promotional strategies at the expense of margins to gain market share during the holiday season, thus boosting investors’ confidence.
Under Armour currently trades at a forward P/E of 58.8x, a substantial premium to the peer group average of 17.06x. The last traded price is 10.1% above the Zacks Consensus average analyst price target of $99.20. Average volume of shares traded over the last 3 months stands at approximately 1,171.7K.
Investors remained optimistic about the stock’s performance as its quarterly earnings of 59 cents a share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 54 cents and increased considerably from 47 cents earned in the year-ago quarter. The better-than-expected results provided much impetus to the stock, which on an average has delivered a positive earnings surprise of roughly 26.6% over the last 7 quarters.
The company also has long-term EPS growth of 22.6%, greater than the peer group growth rate of 11.7%, further adding optimism to the investors’ outlook.
Moreover, aided by strong performance of the Apparel, Footwear and Accessories categories, total revenue came in at $682.8 million, up 35% year over year and ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $620 million.
After having witnessed strong year-over-year performances across all its segments, Under Armour now projects 2014 net revenue in the band of $2.84 billion to $2.87 billion, up 22% to 23% from the prior year and operating income between $326 million and $329 million, reflecting year-over-year growth of 23% to 24%.
Further, the company’s endeavors to keep itself on the growth trajectory is well evident from its acquisition of MapMyFitness, opening the first two UA Brand House retail outlets and sustained investments to strengthen Women's, Footwear and International operations.
Other than Under Armour, Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (KORS), Burger King Worldwide, Inc. (BKW) and Advance Auto Parts Inc. (AAP) also reached highs of $94.43, $25.14 and $128.10 respectively, on Feb 7, 2014.
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