Under Armour “beat quarterly profit and sales estimates, and raised its earnings outlook for the remainder of the year, indicating that it’s turnaround effort is working,” according to Holden Wilen of the BALTIMORE BUSINESS JOURNAL. UA reported Q3 profits of $75.3M, up 39% from the same period last year. Sales in Q3 totaled $1.44B, up more than 2%. Revenue in North America -- where UA has “seen sluggish growth” -- declined 2% to $1.06B. International sales “continued to surge,” growing 15% to $351M (BIZJOURNALS.com, 10/30). In Baltimore, Lorraine Mirabella notes sales to retailers such as Dick’s Sporting Goods rose 4% to $914M. Meanwhile, sales through websites and UA-branded stores “remained unchanged” at $465M, making up 32% of total sales. Sales of apparel rose 4% to $978M, with “growth in training, gold and team sports, while shoe sales remained unchanged” at $285M (BALTIMORESUN.com, 10/30). At presstime, shares of UA were trading at $22.91, up 25.95% from the close of business yesterday (THE DAILY).
HOUSE WORK: CNBC.com’s Lauren Thomas notes after facing “heightened competition from rival athletic apparel companies” like Nike and Adidas, UA was “pressured to roll out new merchandise that goes beyond the performance gear it’s known for.” However, analysts said that there is “still progress to be made.” GlobalData Retail Managing Dir Neil Saunders said the UA brand is “still unfocused and confusing for customers, especially on the product side.” Saunders: “Although the assortment has some good individual pieces, the entire range is a hodgepodge with no clear focus or specialism.” UA Founder, Chair & CEO Kevin Plank said that the company “still has room to grow with women’s items.” He said, “I wasn’t crazy about our product in 2017. We like it much more in 2018. We’re really excited about the way it looks in 2019” (CNBC.com, 10/30).
THE GOOD PLACE: CNBC's Jim Cramer said, "This number today was very good. It looks like the inventory glut is finally cleared out.” He added, “I think Kevin is back. He’s got a very good team and this is a clean story.” CNBC's Sara Eisen said of UA, "This is a company that is firmly in discipline mode, that is right-sizing its business as Kevin Plank a few quarters ago said they were going to do. This quarter showed they were backing up their promises and the best way to see that is actually in the inventory improvement.” The company is “offloading inventory through off price (and) that’s making for a much healthier financial picture.” Eisen: “There’s nothing sexy here about sales ... but it really is a story of a company that is entering its maturity phase” (“Squawk on the Street,” CNBC, 10/30).
