It was more bad news for the sports shoe and apparel industry on Tuesday when Under Armour became the latest of the Big 3 companies to underscore a troubling trend in the marketplace.
Under Armour’s stocks plummeted 17 percent among its first reported quarterly revenue losses in more than a decade and created a market scare that dragged down other industry giants with it.
What’s worse is that the company – which boasts Steph Curry as its most high-profile endorser (and defender) – doesn’t expect to recover any time soon as its own Chief Executive Kevin Plank forecast a dire outlook that will extend well into next year.
Via Gayathree Ganesan of Reuters:
“We are incredibly disappointed with our 2017 performance,” Plank said on a post-earnings call.
“This is now about more than external factors,” Neil Saunders, managing director of research house GlobalData Retail, wrote in a note on the company’s results. “It demonstrates issues with the (Under Armour) brand and its proposition. Especially so since other brands and retailers… have not posted such calamitous figures.”
Even if other brands haven’t posted “calamitous” figures, the industry as a whole has shown signs of serious trouble lately. Nike has withstood two rounds of massive layoffs in recent months as its been unable to immunize itself against the sluggish growth and declining sales that are threatening to hobble the big brands.
Kevin Durant may have been right about Under Armour after all, but this own company isn’t doing so hot either.
(Reuters)
