Shares of Farfetch (FTCH -2.22%) have whipsawed this week, initially spiking on reports that the troubled luxury online fashion company could go private and then plummeting yesterday after that no longer seemed to be the case and the company delayed the release of its third-quarter earnings report.
Today, the stock recouped some of those losses as one analyst upgraded the stock, and some investors seemed to see the sell-off as a buying opportunity.
As of 10:44 a.m. ET, the stock was up 15.3%.
Image source: Farfetch.
Is Farfetch in trouble?
At this point, it's difficult to tell if today's gains are anything more than a dead cat bounce in the struggling stock.
This morning, Citigroup upgraded Farfetch from neutral to sell in response to the recent news items, including that founder Jose Neves is in talks to take the company private. The bank also said that it would be difficult to predict the near-term direction of the business as the company removed guidance, and it didn't expect Farfetch to trade on fundamentals in the near term. Essentially, Citi sees an even chance that the stock could move higher from here after plunging even though there's no fundamental reason to expect the stock to move higher.
Separately, Richemont, the luxury goods company and strategic partner and minority shareholder in Farfetch said it has "no financial obligations toward Farfetch" and has no plans to invest or lend more money to the e-commerce company.
What's next for Farfetch?
The Farfetch saga began this week when the company issued a cryptic press release saying it would not announce third-quarter results as scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 29, nor would it hold a conference call. The company added that it "expects to provide a market update in due course." The Telegraph also reported that Neves was aiming to take the company private after the stock's plunge in recent years.
There could be a number of reasons for the delay in the earnings release, including accounting errors or pending news that the company is going private, though a takeover seems to be the most likely.
Investors should expect an update shortly, but at this point, any prediction about the business is just speculation.
