Topic: How To Invest

Movado is a steal, or so it appears: it surged to around $44 but has now slumped. Is this a buy, or are the fundamentals wrong in this overly competitive fashion business?

Article Excerpt

Movado Group, $33.74, symbol MOV on New York (Shares outstanding: 18.7 million; Market cap: $854.4 million; www.movado.com), sells and distributes watches and jewellery under its own brands and under license from designers. Its top banners include Movado, Ebel, Concord, ESQ, Coach, Hugo Boss, Juicy Couture, Tommy Hilfiger and Lacoste. Movado doesn’t make any of its watches. Instead, it uses independent manufacturers in Switzerland, China and Hong Kong. The company sells products directly to consumers and through jewellery stores, department stores and a network of independent jewellers in Europe, Asia, Canada, the Middle East, South America and the Caribbean. It also operates 35 outlet stores in the U.S. that sell discontinued models and factory seconds of all of its watches. Movado shares have dropped from over $44 to today’s price since late August 2014, when the company released its latest quarterly results. In the three months ended June 30, 2014, Movado’s revenue rose 3.8%, to $143.6 million from $138.3 million a year earlier. Excluding one-time items,…