Active Lifestyle Vendors Deliver Robust Q1
A wide majority of vendors in the actve lifestyle space reported first-quarter results that topped Wall Street’s expectations with many raising guidance for the year. Among brands, Vans, Champion, Puma and Callaway Golf stood out with healthy double-digit top-line growth but earnings from Nike, Deckers Outdoor, Columbia Sportswear and Wolverine Worldwide all easily topped Wall Street’s targets.
May M&A Roundup: Shakeup In Firearms, Outdoor Sectors
Although May was a relatively slow month for mergers and acquisitions activity in the outdoor and active lifestyle space, a few eye-opening transactions dominated headlines because they fell outside the scope of traditional deals.
Retail Report Roundup
Studies arrived last week on teens exiting Facebook, the potential appeal of augmented reality (AR) on online apparel sales, the loyalty benefit for purpose-driven brands, Amazon’s dominant conversion market share across categories, Father’s Day spending, and the pitfalls of offering too-many-choices online.
Lululemon Accelerates Growth In Q1
Lululemon Athletica reported first-quarter earnings more than doubled, well above aggressive guidance. Highlights include 62 percent online growth, a 28 percent increase in new customer acquisition and 380 basis point improvement in product margin.
Caleres Capitalizing On Shift To Digital Demand
Even though Caleres Inc. missed analysts’ first-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, which was followed by shares falling slightly Friday morning, recent strides in e-commerce initiatives bode well for the parent company of a range of footwear brands and Famous Footwear retail stores.
Aisle Talk Week of May 28
Top headlines from the active lifestyle industry you may have missed this week, including the potential for an Eddie Bauer and Pacific Sunwear merger.
Shiekh Shoes To Shrink Significantly As Part of Bankruptcy Exit Plan
As part of the company’s plan to exit bankruptcy proceedings, Shiekh Shoes expects to be operating only 44 stores at the close of 2019, down from 125 when the company first filed for bankruptcy in November. The plan also features minimal payback for trade creditors, expect for Nike.
Golf Sales Fuel Perry Ellis In Q1 Despite Sport’s Softness
Golf rounds might have been down in the double digits for April as they have been for a few months now, but softness in the sport’s participation had no bearing on Perry Ellis International’s golf sales in the first quarter. The company saw total revenues rise 5.4 percent behind the strength of golf apparel.
Tilly’s Shares Surge On Q1 Earnings Beat
Shares of Tilly’s Inc. rose $1.55, or 12.7 percent, to 13.76 Thursday after the action-sports themed retailer reported first-quarter earnings that exceeded internal guidance on improving store traffic and indicated the technical issues that had been derailing e-commerce operations are abating.
Firearms Fallout Fizzles As Dick’s Sporting Goods Surges In Q1
Dick’s Sporting Goods’ recent policy refusing to sell firearms resulted in plenty of PR fallout but it hasn’t affected the retail giant’s bottom line. The Pittsburgh, PA-based company easily beat Wall Street’s estimates for the first quarter ended May 5 through strength in other categories, including an especially solid performance in private label sales, which led to higher margins.
DSW Sees Athleisure Boost In Q1
Continued strength in athleisure and kids, ramped-up marketing investments and a focus on inventory-depth helped DSW Inc. deliver first-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street’s consensus target by 2 cents.
What Does Canadian Tire-Helly Hansen Deal Mean For Outdoor Retail?
Canadian Tire Corp.’s recent $771 million acquisition of Helly Hansen resonated across the outdoor world for its sheer novelty—a retailer has never bought such an established, iconic brand at such an eye-popping price. But does it signal a trend of similar deals happening across the industry?
Retail Study Roundup
Studies arrived last week focusing on department store consolidation, Irrelevant promotions, graduation spending, augmented reality’s initial impact on retail, the dynamics of price changes and expectations around unified commerce.
FDRA Spring Survey Shows Even More Footwear Shoppers Heading Online
According to the FDRA’s “Spring 2018 National Shoe Sales Survey,” 35 percent of Americans planned to buy shoes online this spring, up from 31 percent in 2017. Amazon was found to be only increasing dominance as the go-to place for purchasing footwear online.
Foot Locker’s Shares Pop As Q1 Shows Some Recovery
Shares of Foot Locker Inc. jumped 20.2 percent on Friday after the sneaker leader reported first-quarter blasted past Wall Street’s targets. Management credited the arrival of more on-trend footwear styles from top vendors. But the makeup is changing, led by a resurgence for Nike, with many of styles as well as strength in Vans and Fila, offsetting some softening at Adidas, Puma and Converse.
