Business
Allbirds admits missteps, unveils new strategy after brutal holiday quarter
Published
3 weeks agoon
By
ironity
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shares of Allbirds plummeted during off-hours trading. As of Thursday’s close, shares of the company have fallen 3.5% so far this year to $2.36, giving it a market value of $352.5 million.
The retailer, which has been in the process of a broad brick-and-mortar expansion that it’s now winding down, was candid about its failures. The company is betting its new strategy will reignite growth, improve capital efficiency and drive profitability in the coming years.
“While we made important progress, the year came to a challenging close, with results below our expectations due to both execution and macro challenges,” Joey Zwillinger, Allbirds’ co-founder and co-CEO, said in a statement. “We need to improve performance.”
The company said its most recent quarter was hurt by a “disappointing” holiday season. Results fell short of Wall Street’s expectations on the top and bottom lines.
Here’s how Allbirds did in its fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:
- Loss per share: 17 cents, adjusted, vs. 12 cents expected
- Revenue: $84.18 million vs. $96.8 million expected
The company’s reported net loss for the three-month period that ended Dec. 31 was $24.87 million, compared with a loss of $10.44 million a year earlier. Sales were $84.18 million, down more than 13% from $97.22 million a year earlier.
While full year net revenue increased by 7% to $297.77 million, Allbirds’ net losses in its first full year as a public company ballooned to $101.35 million, more than double the $45.37 million in losses it recorded in 2021.
Gross margins in the quarter decreased to 43.1% compared to 50.2% in the year ago period as selling, general and administrative expenses jumped to $41.6 million, compared to $36.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.
What went wrong?
The shoe maker said its poor performance can be attributed to a series of missteps, including its decision to shift away from its core consumer by introducing products that deviated form that base, including technical performance running products geared for elite athletes.
Following the successful launch of its Dasher running shoe, the company decided to penetrate deeper into the high performance category with products like the Flyer. But Allbirds’ customers just weren’t “ready for us to serve them in that area,” Zwillinger told CNBC in an interview Thursday.
“As we made those adjacent product development decisions, we unfortunately lost a bit of sight of what our core consumer fell in love with us for in the first place and what they continue to want from us,” Zwillinger said.
“And unfortunately, as you have limited resources, we expended our marketing dollars and our product development resources on those adjacencies and didn’t do as much work on embellishments of the core franchise and revitalizing those franchises to keep them extremely relevant with the core consumer.”
Those missteps coupled with a “very promotional” holiday season led the company to miss expectations, Zwillinger said.
“We just saw those culminating in a way that just came together and put a compound effect and had us miss expectations, which was really disappointing for us,” he said.
Transformation strategy
The company also made a series of changes to its executive leadership and board of directors.
Chief Financial Officer Mike Bufano will be stepping down. Annie Mitchell, who previously worked at Gymshark and Adidas, will be taking his place.
Allbirds also eliminated its chief commercial officer position and appointed former Nike executive Ann Freeman to its board. Eric Sprunk, the former COO of Nike, has also been appointed as a board advisor.
Allbirds outlined several focus areas it plans to drill down on in 2023. It also hired a chief transformation officer – former Juul Labs executive Jared Fix – to lead the charge.
The company plans to reconnect with its core consumer by focusing specifically on the products those customers want and offering a more curated seasonal color offering that’s gender specific.
It will also slow the pace of Allbirds store openings in the United States and continue to partner with wholesalers – such as REI, Nordstrom and Dick’s Sporting Goods – to enhance brand awareness and boost sales.
In 2022, the company opened 19 new stores in the U.S. As of the end of December, Allbirds had 58 total stores – 42 in the U.S. and 16 abroad. In 2023, it plans to open just three new stores in the U.S. in locations for which it signed leases in early 2022.
The company is also revisiting its go-to-market strategy in certain international markets and is considering moving towards a distributor model to reduce operating expenses and overall complexity.
Its final area of focus will be enhancing gross and operating margins by transitioning to a single manufacturing partner in Vietnam.
Read the full earnings release here.
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Business
Lululemon shares jump as holiday-quarter sales surge
Published
2 hours agoon
March 29, 2023By
ironity
Mike Blake | Reuters
The company also issued upbeat guidance for its new fiscal year.
Shares of Lululemon jumped about 11% in after-hours trading following the report. Through Tuesday’s close, the stock is about flat for the year, putting the company’s market value at $40.87 billion.
Here’s what the company reported for the three-month period ended Jan. 29, compared with Wall Street expectations based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:
- Earnings per share: $4.40 adjusted vs $4.26 expected
- Revenue: $2.77 billion vs. $2.7 billion expected
Lululemon’s fourth-quarter net income fell to $119.8 million, or 94 cents per share, from $434.5 billion, or $3.36 per share, a year ago. Excluding impairment and other charges related to the acquisition of Mirror, as well as other items, per-share earnings were $4.40.
Revenue rose to $2.77 billion from $2.13 billion a year ago.
The company expects fiscal 2023 revenue of between $9.3 billion and $9.41 billion, topping Wall Street’s expectations of $9.14 billion, according to Refinitiv estimates. The company expects full-year profit of between $11.50 and $11.72 per share, compared with Refinitiv estimates of $11.26 per share.
“Looking ahead, we remain optimistic regarding our ability to deliver sustained growth and long-term value for all our stakeholders,” said Chief Financial Officer Meghan Frank in a statement.
The Vancouver-based athletic apparel retailer said total comparable sales for the fourth quarter increased by 27%. Also called same-store sales, the metric includes sales from stores open continuously for at least 12 months.
“We believe that it is one of the few companies in the space that has a very long pathway for growth, and it’s also a very highly visible one,” said Rick Patel, managing director at Raymond James.
Patel said his firm, which maintains a strong buy rating on the stock, sees upside in Lululemon’s international business and its men’s business, and that the worst of the company’s inventory struggles are in the past.
In December, Lululemon said inventories at the end of its third quarter were up 85% year-over-year. The company said Tuesday that as of the end of 2022, inventories were up 50%.
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Business
Home prices cool in January, even falling in some cities, S&P Case-Shiller says
Published
11 hours agoon
March 28, 2023By
ironity
Dustin Chambers | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Prices have been falling for seven straight months, but the decline was a bit smaller in January. That was likely due to a brief drop in mortgage rates and a resulting jump in sales.
The 10-city composite rose 2.5% year over year, down from 4.4% in December. The 20-city composite also rose 2.5%, down from 4.6% in the previous month.
Home prices have been cooling due to higher mortgage rates. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage set more than a dozen record lows during the first two years of the pandemic, briefly going below 2%, but it grew sharply. Since fall, the rate has been hovering in the high 6% range, although it’s been volatile in recent weeks due to several bank failures and the resulting stress on the overall banking industry.
“Despite this, the Federal Reserve remains focused on its inflation-reduction targets, which suggest that rates may remain elevated in the near-term,” said Craig Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI, in a release. “Mortgage financing and the prospect of economic weakness are therefore likely to remain a headwind for housing prices for at least the next several months.”
Prices were lower year over year in San Francisco (-7.6%), Seattle (-5.1%), Portland, Oregon (-0.5%) and San Diego (-1.4%). They were flat in Phoenix.
Miami, Tampa and Atlanta again saw the hottest annual price gains of the top 20 cities. Miami prices were up 13.8%, Tampa prices up 10.5%, and Atlanta prices rose 8.4%. All 20 cities, however, reported lower prices in the year ending January 2023 versus the year ending December 2022.
Homebuyers may be seeing more flexible sellers this spring, but there are still too few homes available for sale. Mortgage lending may also tighten in light of pressure on the banking system.
“More expensive, less available borrowing, especially with an unclear economic outlook, is likely to continue to limit buyer demand. Though home sales are expected to rebound in line with seasonal trends, this spring’s sales pace is expected to remain lower than last year, as uncertainty and high costs limit activity,” said Hannah Jones, economic data analyst for Realtor.com.
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Business
Virgin Orbit extends unpaid pause as Brown deal collapses, ‘dynamic’ talks continue
Published
1 day agoon
March 28, 2023By
ironity
Matthew Horwood | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Some of the company’s late-stage deal talks, including with private investor Matthew Brown, collapsed over the weekend, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.
Hart previously planned to update employees on the company’s operational status at an all-hands meeting at 4:30 p.m. ET on Monday afternoon, according to an email sent to employees Sunday night. At the last minute, that meeting was rescheduled “for no later than Thursday,” Hart said in the employee memo Monday.
“Our investment discussions have been very dynamic over the past few days, they are ongoing, and not yet at a stage where we can provide a fulsome update,” Hart wrote in the email to employees, which was viewed by CNBC.
Brown told CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange” last week he was in final discussions to invest in the company. A person familiar with the terms told CNBC the investment would have amounted to $200 million and granted Brown a controlling stake. But discussions between Virgin Orbit and the Texas-based investor stalled and broke down late last week, a person familiar told CNBC. As of Saturday those discussions had ended, the person said.
Separately, another person said talks with a different potential buyer broke down on Sunday night.
The people asked to remain anonymous to discuss private negotiations. A representative for Virgin Orbit declined to comment.
Hart promised Virgin Orbit’s over 750 employees “daily” updates this week. Most of the staff remain on an unpaid furlough that Hart announced on Mar. 15. Last week, a “small” team of Virgin Orbit employees returned to work in what Hart described as the “first step” in an “incremental resumption of operations,” with the intention of preparing a rocket for the company’s next launch.
Virgin Orbit’s stock closed at 54 cents a share on Monday, having fallen below $1 a share after the company’s pause in operations.
Virgin Orbit developed a system that uses a modified 747 jet to send satellites into space by dropping a rocket from under the aircraft’s wing mid-flight. But the company’s last mission suffered a mid-flight failure, with an issue during the launch causing the rocket to not reach orbit and crash into the ocean.
The company has been looking for new funds for several months, with majority owner Sir Richard Branson unwilling to fund the company further.
Virgin Orbit was spun out of Branson’s Virgin Galactic in 2017 and counts the billionaire as its largest stakeholder, with 75% ownership. Mubadala, the Emirati sovereign wealth fund, holds the second-largest stake in Virgin Orbit, at 18%.
The company hired bankruptcy firms to draw up contingency plans in the event it is unable to find a buyer or investor. Branson has first priority over Virgin Orbit’s assets, as the company raised $60 million in debt from the investment arm of Virgin Group.
On the same day that Hart told employees that Virgin Orbit was pausing operations, its board of directors approved a “golden parachute” severance plan for top executives, in case they are terminated “following a change in control” of the company.
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