Fitness clothing seller lululemon athletica (LULU 1.91%) is planning to reopen 200 additional stores over the next 14 days, according to a press release yesterday. That will bring the total of reopened stores to around 350, 76% of the approximately 460 stores the company operates around the world.
Reopenings started in China, which rebounded first from the COVID-19 pandemic's effects, but will continue in many other countries, including the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and various European nations. The openings will help the company ease away from reliance on e-commerce, though as CEO Calvin McDonald notes, "We are inspired by how our guests have continued to connect digitally through our online offerings and believe Lululemon remains well positioned to help our guests live the sweatlife."
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While the yoga pants and sportswear retailer has attracted its fair share of bears, several analysts have turned bullish on its prospects. B. Riley FBR upgraded lululemon from neutral to buy, citing the work-at-home response to COVID-19 and the growth in at-home exercise traced by skyrocketing remote interactive workout memberships.
Today, an even more prestigious firm weighed in, with investment bank Oppenheimer maintaining its outperform rating. Its research note explained that "the Lululemon brand is decidedly strong and anchored to an increasingly robust technological backbone." It also said the company's apparel matches up to both home wear and "a more casual but still sophisticated work culture going forward."
Giving the stock a buy rating, Brian Nagel of Oppenheimer put his price target for Lululemon at $296, well north of its current share price of slightly above $275. Data on analyst aggregator website TipRanks suggests that Nagel has a 69.1% success rate, generating 14.5% in average returns.
