After coming under fire last week for its Mach 39 speedskating suit potentially affecting the performance of U.S. speedskaters, Under Armour seems to have cleared its good name today, with the stock up 5% on the news. The suits were developed in participation with Lockheed Martin, and with new evidence coming to light that it may have been the training regimen that affected performance rather than the suits themselves, the U.S. Speedskating Association has renewed its contract with Under Armour. This was the news that the market responded to. In the lead story from Friday's Investor Beat, host Chris Hill and Motley Fool analyst Jason Moser look into Under Armour's speedskating suit incident, and examine the issue from both sides.
Then, shares of the daily deals website Groupon pulled back hard today, down more than 20% after the company reported a loss for Q4, and guided lower than expectations for the coming first quarter. Is this cratering temporary, or is this a business that investors should see as fundamentally broken? With competition coming from Living Social and other deal providers in this space, Jason sees no real competitive advantage for the company. While it is making a concerted effort to dramatically change its focus and business model toward becoming a massive international hub for all things e-commerce, Jason sees big problems there, too, namely, other e-commerce giants that already have a huge head start. While the stock may look cheap after today's big pullback, Jason reminds investors that cheap alone does not an investment thesis make.
And finally, Chris and Jason take a look at Boston Beer ahead of the company's earnings report. Jason discusses why he admires the company's leadership, and gives two initiatives the company is exploring at the moment that have really caught his eye.
