How Under Armour Stacks Up Against Nike and Lululemon

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 12, 3:18PM EST · Published Jan 31, 3:09PM EST

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How Under Armour Stacks Up Against Nike and Lululemon — © Thinkstock

Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UAA) saw a massive pullback in its shares after the company reported its fourth-quarter earnings. This has been one of the biggest cult stocks over the past few years with shares making gains like clockwork. But this earnings report throws all of this into question, not to mention a change in executive leadership.

At the beginning of 2009, this was about a $2 stock. Over the course of the next 6 years the stock almost reached the $50 mark, an absolutely astronomical return for anyone who was long on the stock. However, athleisure trends have backed off since that time as we have seen in athletic apparel giant Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) which was the worst performing Dow stock in 2016.

Nike fell to the wayside last year in terms of its performance and Under Armour had similar performance with shares down 18.7% and 27.9% in this time, respectively. Although these two apparel producers fell in this period, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) saw massive gains during the 2016 calendar year (23.9%).

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Back to Under Armour. The firm posted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.23 and revenues of $1.3 billion. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters called for $0.25 in EPS and $1.41 billion in revenue. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.24 on revenues of $1.17 billion.

The company’s class C common stock (NYSE: UA) posted EPS of $0.71, including a special dividend paid to class C shareholders in the second quarter. Class C shares have no voting rights. The company’s founder and CEO, Kevin Plank, owns all class B shares.

In terms of guidance, the company said it expects net revenues to rise by 11% to 12% in fiscal 2017 to $5.4 billion on a currency neutral basis. Analysts are calling for revenues of $6.05 billion.

Chip Molloy, chief financial officer, has decided to leave the company for personal reasons. Effective February 3, David Bergman, Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance, will serve as acting CFO. Molloy will remain with the company in an advisory capacity to assist with the transition.

Under Armour shares were last trading down over 25% at $21.49, with a consensus analyst price target of $36.91 and a 52-week trading range of $20.93 to $47.95.

Shares of Nike were recently trading down less than 1% at $52.68. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $61.81 and a 52-week trading range of $49.01 to $65.44.

Shares of Lululemon were last trading up 1% at $67.56. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $54.00 to $81.81 and a consensus analyst price target of $73.34.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.