Parka maker Canada Goose Holdings Inc. struck an upbeat tone for the coming year, with plans to add 10 stores, launch a footwear line and spend more on marketing, all while forecasting record revenue.
With no tourism recovery in sight and spending plans putting pressure on margins, investors flinched. The shares, which were up during pre-trading hours, were down 6.1% at 2:08 p.m. Thursday in New York.
The Toronto-based company reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ forecasts, thanks to a surge in e-commerce, and predicted sales topping C$1 billion ($820 million) this fiscal year. The commercial momentum allows for a boost in investment, Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Sinclair said.
“We believe that the time is right to play more offense and to drive our agenda even harder,” Sinclair told analysts on a conference call. “We’re seeing great demand strength globally.”
Investments, including a new line of footwear products coming up in the fall-winter season, may flatten operating margins, Bloomberg Intelligence Deborah Aitken wrote.
The revenue and margin guidance unveiled Thursday is “lackluster” and the reason behind the shares’ drop, Wells Fargo analyst Ike Boruchow wrote in a note to investors. He cut his stock price target to C$60, from C$68 due to profitability concerns in the near term. Still, recent quarters have shown “a strong rebound in trajectory,” he wrote.
The company’s forecasts assume tourism will not recover this year, depriving bricks-and-mortar outlets of visitors who made up half of its retail store business before the pandemic. The company has banked on adding stores near its customers instead, in particular the Asia Pacific region, home to six of its 10 planned new locations.
“China is a very strong market for us,” Chief Executive Officer Dani Reiss said in an interview. “Brand awareness is growing.”
Nine stores in Canada and Europe were closed for an average of eight weeks to fend off the virus during the quarter ended March 28. Online sales made up for it, surging 123%.
The company plans more e-commerce investment, including virtual appointments, according to Sinclair.
