LULU

Nike’s Revenue Under Pressure

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Image: Nike’s shares have languished of late, and a comeback will take some time. By Brian Nelson, CFA On June 27, Nike (NKE) reported disappointing fourth quarter fiscal 2024 results and issued an outlook for fiscal 2025 that came up short relative to expectations. Revenue in the quarter fell 2%, missing the consensus estimate, but was flat on a currency-neutral basis. Revenue for its Nike brand advanced 1% on a currency-neutral basis, while Nike direct revenue fell 7% on a currency-neutral basis. Wholesale revenue was up 8% on a currency-neutral basis, while revenues for Converse dropped 17% on a currency-neutral basis. Nike’s guidance for 2025 wasn’t very encouraging. Here’s what the executive team said on the conference call: Now let … Read more

Lululemon’s Fiscal First Quarter Results Well Received But Competition Remains Fierce

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Image: Lululemon’s shares have been under considerable pressure so far in 2024. By Brian Nelson, CFA On June 5, Lululemon (LULU) reported better than expected first quarter fiscal 2024 results for the period ended April 28 that beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines. Net revenue increased 10% (11% on a constant dollar basis), while comparable sales increased 6% (7% on a constant dollar basis). The company’s operating margin faced pressure in the period, but its gross margin expanded 20 basis points from last year’s period. Its diluted earnings per share came in at $2.54 in the quarter versus $2.28 per share in the same period a year ago. Management’s commentary was upbeat in the press release: In … Read more

Nike’s Revenue to Face Pressure During First Half of Fiscal 2025

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Image: Nike’s shares have faced considerable pressure from the beginning of 2022, and its outlook for the first half of fiscal 2025 wasn’t great. By Brian Nelson, CFA On March 21, Nike (NKE) reported better-than-expected third quarter fiscal 2024 results. Revenue during the quarter advanced modestly on a reported and currency-neutral basis as revenue from its Nike brand rose 2%, while sales for Converse fell 19% on a reported basis. Nike showcased its pricing strength in the period, with the company’s gross margin advancing 150 basis points, to 44.8%, despite higher input expenses and restructuring charges. Net income fell 5% in the fiscal third quarter, while diluted earnings per share dropped 3% in the period. Nike ended the quarter ending … Read more

Dick’s Sporting Goods Soars, Raises Dividend 10%

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Image: Dick’s Sporting Goods’ shares have soared since the doldrums of the COVID-19 meltdown. By Brian Nelson, CFA On March 14, Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio holding Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) reported better-than-expected top and bottom-line performance for the fourth quarter and issued a solid outlook for fiscal 2024. Shares of Dick’s Sporting Goods have done fantastic since the worst of the COVID-19 meltdown years ago, and the momentum behind its business remains strong, as evidenced by a nice 10% increase in its quarterly dividend. We expect to raise our fair value estimate of Dick’s Sporting Goods upon our next valuation model update, and the company remains a key idea in the Dividend Growth Newsletter portfolio. Management’s commentary in the quarterly … Read more

We Remain Bullish; Is This 1995 – The Beginning of a Huge Stock Market Run?

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Image: Large cap growth stocks have trounced the performance of the S&P 500, REITs, and bonds since the beginning of 2023. We expect continued outperformance in this area of the market. By Brian Nelson, CFA We’re now roughly four years past the depths of the COVID-19 meltdown, where equities collapsed in February and March of 2020. As the markets began to recover through 2020, our long-term conviction in equities only grew stronger. We think the biggest risk for long-term investors remains staying out of the market on the basis of what could be considered stretched valuation multiples. As we outlined heavily in the book Value Trap, valuation multiples hardly tell the complete story about a company and often omit key … Read more

12 Reasons to Stay Aggressive in 2024

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By Brian Nelson, CFA 1. The Fed has signaled that rate cuts could start with inflation at a 2 handle (2 point something) and not at exactly 2.0%. That means that the Fed may become anticipatory to prevent overshooting to the downside with inflation. We see this as positive for long-duration equities, particularly those whose free cash flow generation is robust in the out-years, inclusive of big cap tech and the stylistic area of large cap growth. 2. Unemployment is at structural lows of 3.7%. Employers are working hard to keep talent on board, and with each paycheck, employees are pumping more and more money into the stock market via retirement accounts. This tailwind remains a stiff one and will … Read more

Reinstating Coverage of Lululemon

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Image Source: Mike Mozart By Brian Nelson, CFA On December 7, Lululemon (LULU) reported strong third-quarter results for its fiscal 2023, with revenue increasing 19% and comparable sales increasing 14% on a constant-dollar basis. Adjusted earnings per share of $2.53 came in roughly 10% higher than the consensus forecast. We are reinstating coverage of Lululemon with a $470 per share fair value estimate and an Attractive Economic Castle rating. We like Lululemon but we won’t be adding it to any newsletter portfolio at this time. Here is what CEO Calvin McDonald had to say about the quarter in the press release: This was another strong quarter for lululemon as our innovative product offerings and community activations continued to powerfully resonate … Read more

Dick’s Sporting Goods Still Looks Really Cheap

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Image Source: Dick’s Sporting Goods By Brian Nelson, CFA On November 21, Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) reported solid third-quarter results with sales up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis thanks to comparable store sales growth of 1.7% that lapped an impressive 6.5% increase in the same period a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $2.85 in the quarter, up from $2.60 in last year’s period. The company also raised its 2023 comparable store sales growth guidance range to 0.5%-2% from flat to 2% previously, and it raised its 2023 non-GAAP earnings per share outlook to $12.00-$12.60 from its previous range of $11.50-$12.30. We liked the news and continue to believe that shares of Dick’s Sporting Goods are mispriced. … Read more

There Will Be Volatility

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By Brian Nelson, CFA Last year, 2022, was a big test for equity investors, and the downside volatility that we witnessed during the year wasn’t comfortable, to say the least. Following the COVID-19 crash and rebound during 2020, and then the market surge in 2021, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say many investors’ heads are probably still spinning from all the volatility witnessed to start this decade. That said, part of what we’ve been warning about the past few years with respect to the equity market, especially in Value Trap, is that the proliferation of price-agnostic trading (e.g. quant, machine/algorithmic trading, etc.) will only lead to more and more market volatility, so while we were somewhat surprised by last … Read more

Dick’s Sporting Goods Down ~7% Year-to-Date; Sticking with It Long Term

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Image Source: Mike Mozart By Brian Nelson, CFA Dividend growth investing continues to face pressure during 2023 as investors have migrated to entities with strong net cash positions, solid free cash flow generation and secular growth prospects, many ideas of which can be found in the areas of big cap tech (XLK) and large cap growth (SCHG). The SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY), which includes high-yielding Dividend Aristocrats, is down more than 4% so far in 2023 on a price-only basis and is off more than 6% over the past year, also on a price-only basis. With interest rates on the rise, the tradeoff between owning a certificate of deposit at the local bank yielding north of 5% and dividend … Read more