Reebok Int'l stock "surged" another 3 1/2 to 49
yesterday, placing its two-day profit at 6/share, according
to Bailey & Syre of the BOSTON GLOBE. Although fourth-
quarter earnings were down 43% on lower shoe sales, Reebok
noted that footwear orders were up 6% for the first half of
'97. Reebok's net income dropped to $20.1M, or $.35/share,
from profits from operations of $35M, or $.46/share, a year
earlier. But Bailey & Syre note that what Wall Street
"wanted was a turnaround in future orders, and it was not
disappointed." After pushing new products, launching a new
advertising campaign and mending "fences" with retailers,
Reebok's stock has been moving up since a low of 25 3/8 last
January. And in the last two days, investors began betting
on the backlog numbers expected in yesterday's earnings
report and "several big blocks of stock changed hands in the
last two days, mostly through Salomon Bros." Looking ahead,
Roland Whitridge, who manages the Babson Value Fund, which
holds a half-millions shares of Reebok, said there "is a
good chance they [Reebok] are going to win back a lot of
that market share they lost to Nike" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/31).
CHANGE THE PRICE: Fila Holding SpA cut prices of the
"Stack Mid," its new shoe that was seen as the "centerpiece"
of its '97 line, by 15% as sales of its other shoes
decreased. "Stack Mid" was cut from $99 to $85 after demand
for Fila's Grant Hill shoe slowed (Baltimore SUN, 1/31).
