Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ: LULU), the Canadian yoga wear and athleisure firm, saw its shares fall over 7.4% on earnings that actually beat expectations. Here’s why I think it’s still a long-term buy.
Tim’s Take:
Who hasn’t heard of Lululemon? The fashion-forward yoga firm has been a phenomenon since creating comfortable, stretchy clothing for your daily workout.
It then expanded from that niche to designing and producing comfortable everyday wear, dominating the so-called “athleisure” market.
So what did investors hate about its latest report? It’s more likely a spillover from the sell-off in tech stocks recently because the numbers were, in my opinion, pretty solid.
Revenue rose marginally in the second quarter, up 3% to US$902.9 million – which is impressive given the operating environment and closure of Lululemon stores during a period of global lockdowns.
Even better, though, its online sales in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel rose a whopping 157% year-on-year. Building out its online capabilities and hawking its US$90 yoga pants via its e-commerce platform is a smart move longer term.
Yoga moat and a strong brand
Yes, Lululemon’s net income did shrink by about a third to US$86.8 million but the fact it’s still profitable is testament to the strength of its brand.
The company’s acquisition of stay-at-home fitness firm, Mirror, will also allow Lululemon to beat a path into the stay-home fitness market that Peloton Interactive Inc (NASDAQ: PTON) has been dominating.
I’ll be interested to see how that acquisition pans out and how the firm plans to integrate Mirror into its product offerings. However, even with shares falling over 7%, Lululemon is still up over 35% so far in 2020.
Quality companies will remain quality companies and nothing has changed that fact in Lululemon’s latest quarter.
Zoom out and take a look at the company’s performance over the longer term for proof of that. Over the past five years Lululemon’s share price is up around six-fold.
For long-term investors, the recent dip is an opportunity to pick up shares of a top-notch apparel firm.
