UNDER ARMOUR STOCK BOOSTED AS MUTUAL FUND BLACKROCK INC INCREASE THEIR STAKE TO 2.94%

under armour

In the past year or so, Under Armour stock-ticker symbol UAA, has been the classic bear and bull battleground. Most of the time though, forecasts were and still continues to be on the downside advised from the declining revenue growth in their traditional anchor zones of North America.  The fact that UAA further expansion outside the US appeared stagnant and be limited due to slow uptake of the Under Armour brand also fuelled speculation of a further dip below $15.

As a matter of fact, by end of Q2 UAA shareholders were worried as their stock appeared overvalued but Addidas’s, one of its competitor in the Accessories and Apparel sector was somehow undervalued despite expanding at the same pace with even better prospects in Europe where UAA sales are insignificant. Equity analysts had initially but this stock intrinsic value at a $15-$20 to the range before the second quarter earnings report was released back in June. Remember in Q1, UAA common stock crashed 25% after earning reports pointed to slow revenue growth and the fact that Addidas-who is in a better financial and competitive position had displaced it as the number one brand in the US.

Anyway, from the look of things, Under Armour’s slide is about to come to an end. First off, there has been a slight improvement in the all-important revenue growth and some stability in Under Armour’s core market, the US, is pulling it out of the dungeons. Recent UAA financial reports point to recovering prospects.

The company outperformed investor expectations with revenue-a key benchmark-expanding to $1.09B against a forecast of $1.08B representing annualized growth of 8.7%. Earnings per share also expanded to – $0.03 up by $0.03 against a forecast of -$0.06 boosting Under Armour net margin to 4.38%. This company performance metric was stellar, to say the least, and helped price stabilize around UAA’s YoY lows of $15.92 and as markets opened on Friday, it was hovering at the 50 periods moving the average of $16.82 at $16.19.

To put this into perspective, UAA has common stock price is 102% less volatile than S&P 500 index, a price-earnings ratio of 32 and a market cap of $7.14B. Compared to their competitors, insider and institutional ownership are still below the sector’s average at 16.5% and 30.5%. Generally, low institutional and insider ownership means the low confidence by hedge funds and institutions for the company to outperform the market in the medium t long term. Most importantly though, analyst’s consensus put Under Armour common stock price at $19.68 which is just within the $15-$20 range. At $19.68, that’s an upside potential of 21.11% clearly outperforming competitors by 16%.

This pound to pound comparison has triggered a shift in sentiment among equity analysts who expect UAA stock to recover after more than 6 quarters of decline. Vetr and Jeffries Group have reassessed the stock and their research notes moved it from a hold to a buy rating with an objective price of $23.24 and $28 respectively.

According to Security and Exchange Commission file reports for Q2, BlackRock Inc, New York-based mutual funds in the world managing over $5.7T in assets, has upped their ownership in Under Armour to 2.94% after purchasing 10,977,104 shares worth over $238M after Q2. Other funds and state organs followed suit with Tennessee Treasury adding a $4.3M stake in UAA stock while investment management funds Schwab Charles and Chilton Investments added $18.7M and $15.3M of UAA shares in their portfolio.

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