Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, specialty tea retailer Teavana Holdings
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Teavana's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Teavana facts
| Headquarters (Founded) | Atlanta (1997) |
| Market Cap | $617.4 million |
| Industry | Specialty stores |
| Trailing-12-Month Revenue | $150.9 million |
| Management | Founder/Chairman/CEO Andrew Mack CFO Daniel Glennon |
| Trailing-12-Month Operating Margin | 17.9% |
| Cash/Debt | $36,000 / $4.5 million |
Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 28% of the 54 members who have rated Teavana believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bears include OklaBoston and XMFElleMoran.
Just last month, OklaBoston touched on Teavana's seemingly unsustainable valuation: "Typical newly public stock. Possible bright future but nearly certain to be available cheaper in a few months."
In fact, Teavana currently sports a forward P/E of 26.5. That represents a premium to other hot beverage plays like Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
CAPS member XMFElleMoran elaborates on the bear case:
Shop or work there for a while, and you'll know why. Employees hearts arent in it, and they treat customers like objects from which to extract sales. They're forced to this mentality because their pay depends on it. While sales is crucial to [Teavana's] success, pushy sales will not do the trick with this highly discretionary, expensive, and unfamiliar product. The only thing that seperated teavana from the competition (on both tea and accessories) is the shopping experience -- it sure as hell isn't price that makes people buy from [Teavana]. If the shopping experience stinks, Teavana's got nothing. ...
Plus, increasing costs, new entrants into the market, substitute products, and total inability to expand to the fastest growing part of the world -- [A]sia -- because the product would be spat upon. Much better quality tea is available for much lower prices all across Asia.
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