Under Armour Stock Takes Hit After Q4 Earnings Slightly Low
Baltimore-based Under Armour reported Q4 earnings Thursday that were 69% higher
than a year earlier “but came in slightly lower than expected,” according to Andrea
Walker of the Baltimore SUN. Wall Street “punished the company’s stock, sending
it down” 7.15%, or $3.63 per share, to close at $47.17. Net income for Q4 climbed
to $11.9M, or $0.24 per share, compared with $7M, or $0.08 a share, for the year-ago
period. Analysts had predicted $0.25 a share. Under Armour Chair & CEO Kevin Plank
said, “The most important thing is that we’re proud of the year that we had. At
the same time we’re a growth company. The growth initiatives that we are spending
on now are things that will pay dividends in 2007 and frankly beyond.” Walker
notes the “stock slump marks the fourth time” since Under Armour went public in
November ’05 that its shares fell after an earnings announcement,” but the stock
“typically has rebounded the day after.” Meanwhile, Plank said that the company
“expects to expand into several new categories in the next two years,” as it is
“field-testing non-cleat shoes that it expects to market” in ’08 (Baltimore
SUN, 2/2). At presstime, shares of Under Armour were trading at $46.38,
down 1.67% (THE DAILY).
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