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Bull of the Day: Rocky Brands (RCKY)

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Boasting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and landing the Bull of the Day, Rocky Brands (RCKY - Free Report) ) is a trending retail apparel stock to consider right now. Rocky Brands’ Zacks Shoes and Retail Apparel Industry is currently in the top 16% of over 250 Zacks industries with other standouts including Adidas (ADDYY - Free Report) ) and Skechers (SKX - Free Report) ).

However, after crushing third quarter top and bottom line expectations earlier in the month the strengthening outlook of Rocky Brands may be the most compelling at the moment.

Q3 Review: As a leading provider of premium quality footwear and apparel Rocky Brands Q3 earnings of $1.09 per share impressively topped the Zacks Consensus of $0.31 a share by a whopping 251%. Plus, sales of $125.61 million came in 11% better than expected.

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Rocky Brands attributed the strong results to product improvement which resulted in reduced inventory levels and an acceleration in at-once orders from key wholesale partners with some of the company’s brands including Rocky Outdoor Gear, Durango, and Dickies.

Year over year, Rocky Brands’ Q3 earnings soared 47% from $0.74 a share in the prior year quarter despite sales falling -15%. Amid broader economic headwinds, Rocky Brands’ retail segment sales did increase 4.7% YoY which is a great sign as the holiday shopping season is upon us and inventories decreased 26.5% from a year ago.

Soaring Earnings Estimates: Alluding to more upside in Rocky Brands stock is that annual earnings estimates have soared over the last 30 days. Fiscal 2023 earnings estimates have skyrocketed 132% to $1.74 a share compared to estimates of $0.75 per share a month ago. Even better, FY24 EPS estimates have climbed 53% to $2.55 per share compared to estimates of $1.66 a share 30 days ago.  

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Attractive Valuation: Trading around $25 a share, Rocky Brands stock is up a respectable +8% this year and the company’s P/E valuation also points to the plausibility of more upside. Supported by rising EPS estimates Rocky Brands stock trades at a 14.8X forward earnings multiple which is a slight discount to its industry average of 15.2X and nicely beneath the S&P 500’s 21.3X.

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Generous Dividend: Rocky Brands may not be as renowned as some of its well-known industry peers like Nike (NKE - Free Report) ), Adidas, or even Skechers but the company’s payout to shareholders shouldn’t be overlooked.

Rocky Brands' 2.4% annual dividend yield is above the benchmark’s 1.42% average and easily tops Adidas’ 0.24% and Nike’s 1.28% while Skechers doesn’t offer a payout at the moment.

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Bottom Line

With the holiday shopping season beginning, Rocky Brands stock is very attractive and now may be an ideal time to buy RCKY shares after the company’s very impressive Q3 report showed increased profitability, product improvement, and reduced inventory.


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NIKE, Inc. (NKE) - free report >>

Skechers U.S.A., Inc. (SKX) - free report >>

Adidas AG (ADDYY) - free report >>

Rocky Brands, Inc. (RCKY) - free report >>

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