It wasn't that long ago that Wall Street was in love with Crocs, Inc (NASDAQ: CROX), the maker of the trendy slippers that took the world by storm last year. After going on a tear for most of 2007, the stock started to break down last November, and has been in a tail spin for the past 5 months.
The company is going to be reporting its first quarter numbers tomorrow after the market close, and all signs are pointing to yet another troublesome quarter for the company. Earnings.com is showing Wall Street estimates of 10 cents a share, but that number does not really hold too much water after the company announced a much weaker forecast last month in its preliminary release.
Last month, CROX shocked Wall Street when it said that it expected to see a 5 cent per share loss in the quarter, and revenues falling somewhere between $195 and $200 million. After that news came out, the already troubled stock took a serious nose dive, and gave up around 40% of its value.
This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.
The story of Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) and Under Armour (NYSE: UA) is just one more David and Goliath scenario. Just like in the biblical story, David's battle (UA) was more one of survival against the odds, while Goliath (NKE) truly did want to vanquish the diminutive challenger. Under Armour is capitalized at $1.28 billion while the long-established and legendary Nike has a capitalization more than 20 times the size at $26.38 billion.
NIKE, the world's #1 shoemaker, does more dominating than assisting, to capture more than 20% of the U.S. athletic shoe market. It designs and sells shoes for a variety of sports, including baseball, cheer-leading, golf, volleyball, hiking, tennis, and football. Under Armour is proving its mettle as an apparel warrior. Since its foray into the sporting goods market, the maker of performance athletic undies and apparel has risen to the top of the industry pack, boasting a big portion of the compression garment market.
In addition to playing a dominant role in the shoe market, Nike has retail and wholesale outlets that sell a broad range of branded sports gear, including clothes, watches, balls, hats, and an expanding array of accessories. Under Armour is expanding as well, trying to get a foot-hold (could not resist) in the shoe market starting with a series of cross-trainers. They hope to capture perhaps 10% of the market as they promote their up-and-coming brand.
Biggest Stock Losers Since the market slump began six months ago, U.S. companies have bled away trillions of dollars in value. 80% of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index have fallen in value, according to data provider Capital IQ. Here's a damage report. The biggest loser is Bear Stearns which lost $16.7 billion in value. Other big losers include National City Bank, Ambac, CIT, Countrywide, E*Trade, WaMu, Sprint Nextel & Freddie Mac. The Stock Market's Biggest Losers
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The fall of Crocs (NASDAQ: CROX) as a momentum stock has been just as spectacular as its rise.
After a drop of around 40% in trading this morning, shares of Crocs have fallen below their IPO price -- after closing at a split-adjusted price of $12.58 on the first day of trading, Crocs shares are down to $10.60, giving investors who bought on the first day a total return of about about -16%. That's amazing because at the company's high of $75.21 reached on Halloween of 2007, investors were up more than 500%.
I've always thought Crocs was a garbage stock. In February of last year, I wrote about Crocs as one of three retail fad stocks to beware of. Based on my prior posts on Crocs, here are the lessons I think investors can learn from watching the decline of Crocs' share price:
On a final note, Crocs' beaten down share price might finally make it worth another look, now that expectations have been moderated.
With this year's summer Olympics just around the corner, athletic outfitter Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) unveiled its new Olympic products yesterday.
While Nike has never really embraced the concept of being a sponsor for the Olympics, it prides itself on being an outfitter for the competing athletes. This year there will be thousands of Olympic hopefuls from over a hundred companies that will be sporting the famous "Nike Swoosh" on themselves for millions of watchers to see.
Nike will definitely leave its own footprint all over this summer's Olympic games. For the first time ever, BMX will be an Olympic medal sport, and the new Nike gear for the sport is being heralded by Nike's global director for action sports, John Martin, as the "illest BMX product ever." I honestly thought the word "illest" vanished from the vocabulary around the same time as Run-DMC; guess I was wrong. But I will definitely look forward to seeing the "illest" BMX gear ever, Nike definitely got my attention on that one!
Nike (NYSE: NKE) unveiled its Olympics 2008 line Monday, its largest effort for the games ever. Nike actually created products in every sport at the games despite not being an official sponsor of the games like its rival Adidas. As for the U.S. team, it will be attired in Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) garb.
If Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was upgraded Monday, today it finds itself on the flip side with a downgrade from Morgan Keegan from Market Perform to Underperform. Ummmm, contrarian is one thing, but I'm not so sure about that one. AAPL shares are down nearly 1.5% in premarket trading.
Meanwhile, according to MarketWatch, Goldman Sachs has upgraded some brokers and asset managers, but is remaining cautious on regional banks, mortgage and specialty finance and REITs. American Express (NYSE: AXP), Metlife (NYSE: MET), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) and several others all were upgraded to Buy. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and several others were cut to neutral.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) is a leading designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly owned subsidiaries include Converse (athletic footwear, apparel, accessories), Cole Haan Holdings (luxury shoes, handbags, accessories, coats), Umbro (UK soccer brand) and Hurley International (action sports footwear, apparel, accessories). The firm is the world's #1 shoemaker. Its products are sold throughout the US and in more than 180 other countries.
The company pleased investors last month, when it reported fiscal Q3 EPS of 92 cents and revenues of $4.5 billion. Analysts had been expecting 81 cents and $4.3 billion. Revenue grew 20 percent or more in overseas markets, with particular strength in Asia and Europe. Company officials said Nike had already hit its goal of more than $1 billion in annual sales in China. McAdams, Wright, Ragen and UBS subsequently reiterated "buy" ratings on the stock.
With recession fears, housing market worries and credit concerns, retailers have been facing tough times over the past few months. But on the heels of these worries, shares of world's largest athletic shoemaker, Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE), have been climbing today the most in almost nine months after announcing last night stronger-than-expected third-quarter profit.
The company said its quarterly profit surged 32% to $463.8 million, compared with $350.8 million a year earlier boosted by strong gains in Europe and Asia. The company posted earnings 92 cents a share, exceeding analysts' forecast for a quarterly profit of 80 cents a share.
The company's quarterly revenue grew by a respectable 16% to $4.54 billion. For this period, the athletic shoemaker counted strong sales for products lifted by the weak U.S. dollar. Analysts, on average, expected Nike's sales to be $4.36 billion, according to FactSet.
Are Money-Market Funds as Good as Cash? In stressful times, you may hear advisers and strategists recommend that investors raise their allocations to "cash." There are two reasons for doing so. First, cash, which is presumably risk free, protects your portfolio from losses. Second, raising cash builds reserves you can use to buy stocks, junk bonds or other assets at lower prices once the backdrop brightens. But just what is cash? And is it as safe as it appears to be? Are Money-Market Funds as Good as Cash? - Kiplinger.com
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A day after stocks experienced a huge rally, they experienced a huge selloff and today, it seems, that the markets may start on a positive note, recovering somewhat from Wednesday's drop with buyers coming back in. U.S. stock futures are mildly higher after Nike reported surprising strong earnings Wednesday after the close, with sales boosted by the the weak dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar strengthened while commodity prices mostly declining.
After the Dow industrials rallied over 420 points Tuesday when the Federal Reserve cut rate by 75 basis points, it nearly gave it all back Wednesday when it dropped 293 points or 2.36%. As oil and gold prices declined seeing the worst one-day dollar decline in 17 years and 28 years respectively, oil producers and miners were lower, dragging down markets. The S&P 500 fell 32 points, or 2.43%, and the Nasdaq composite closed down 58 points, or 2.53%.
Few economic indicators are due out today: At 8:30 a.m., weekly initial jobless claims will be reported to give an indication of the labor markets. At 10:00 a.m., February leading indicator and March Philadelphia Fed index will be released. Both are expected to decline, showing an overall economic slowdown as well as a specific regional one (manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area).
Naturally, a rally like the one we've seen Tuesday -- spurred by a Federal Reserve rate cut -- can't go one, and today stock futures are indicating stocks may start the session with declines.
On Tuesday, the Dow industrials rose 420 points, or 3.5%, the S&P 500 added 54 points, or 4.2% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 91 points, or 4.2% after Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) beat expectations when they reported earnings (despite reporting lower earnings), providing some relief after the collapse of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC). The Fed's rate cut of three-quarters of a percentage point also helped lift market sentiment.
Today, however, the same concerns are continuing to plauge the market, about the credit crisis and the mortgage sector problems. Without much economic data, investors will revert back to focusing on these problems as the dollar continued its fall against the euro, erasing most of yesterday's gains, "on speculation the worst U.S. housing slump in a quarter of a century will swell credit-market losses."
It wasn't that long ago that Wall Street was in love with Crocs, Inc (NASDAQ: CROX), the maker of the trendy slippers that took the world by storm last year. After going on a tear for most of 2007, the stock started to break down last November, and has been in a tail spin for the past 5 months.
This post is part of our 
The fall of 
With recession fears, housing market worries and credit concerns, retailers have been facing tough times over the past few months. But on the heels of these worries, shares of world's largest athletic shoemaker, 
A day after stocks experienced a huge rally, they experienced a huge selloff and today, it seems, that the markets may start on a positive note, recovering somewhat from Wednesday's drop with buyers coming back in. U.S. stock futures are mildly higher after Nike reported surprising strong earnings Wednesday after the close, with sales boosted by the the weak dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar strengthened while commodity prices mostly declining.
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