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G-III Apparel's (GIII) Digital & Brand Progress Look Promising

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G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (GIII - Free Report) appears impressive on the back of robust digital gains and strength in its global power brands. Management is focused on updating websites to offer a seamless customer experience. GIII remains encouraged about its diversified portfolio backed by five globally powerful brands, namely, DKNY, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Karl Lagerfeld Paris.

GIII’s strategic endeavors helped it post sturdy results in fourth-quarter fiscal 2022. The company’s top and bottom lines beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate and improved year over year. Net sales jumped 42% year over year on healthy sales performance at the Wholesale and Retail divisions. Results gained from strength in the company’s brands and digital business, as well as from robust demand for the products. The company’s order book continues to be impressive.

G-III Apparel is well-positioned in fiscal 2023. Management projects the fiscal’s net sales to be $3 billion, up from $2.77 billion reported in fiscal 2022. On adjusting for the closed Wilsons and Bass stores' sales of $252 million in fiscal 2020, this view exceeds the pre-pandemic sales level in fiscal 2020 by nearly 4%. It envisioned fiscal 2023 earnings per share of $4.20-$4.30, up from $4.05 earned last fiscal. The company expects higher gross margins in fiscal 2023 compared with fiscal 2022. For the fiscal first quarter, management expects net sales of nearly $600 million versus $519.9 million recorded in the year-earlier quarter. Adjusted earnings per share are anticipated to be 50-60 cents versus 53 cents earned last fiscal’s quarter.

Encouragingly, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for GIII’s fiscal 2023 sales and earnings are currently pegged at $3.01 billion and $4.26 per share, respectively. These estimates suggest increases of 8.7% and 5.2% from the corresponding year-ago figures. The consensus mark for first-quarter sales stands at $601 million and for earnings at 57 cents a share, mirroring respective growth of 15.6% and 7.6%. A glimpse of this New York-based company’s share price shows that it has inched up 3.2% in the past three months against the industry’s 8.2% fall.

Strategic Details

G-III Apparel has been accelerating its digital growth and strives to become the best omni-channel organization. GIII’s digital business has been robust for a while now. Management is progressing well with the improvements in its digital platforms for DKNY and Karl Lagerfeld Paris. These sites are likely to offer an immersive brand content to engage consumers, thus facilitating conversion and leveraging sales tools, such as virtual selling. It is steadily investing in data analytics capabilities to better know the consumers across channels and boost their shopping experiences.

During fourth-quarter fiscal 2022, digital sales rose 35% on the company’s partners’ sites and more than 60% on its own DKNY and Karl Lagerfeld Paris sites, versus two years ago. In China, digital sales exceeded store sales. Vilebrequin’s digital sales registered solid double-digit increases versus last year.

Additionally, G-III Apparel experienced strength in the outerwear business, led by the casual products category. Its top categories, including athleisure and casual sportswear, are performing well. The Jeans category is performing impressively and has been a major contributor to the overall results. Apart from growth in the casual businesses that are gaining from shifts in consumer behavior, the broader lifestyle categories like dresses and wear-to-work sportswear exhibits momentum.

With respect to athleisure and casual sportswear, the company is consistently expanding its collections to cash in on consumers' growing demand. The company also successfully launched the Karl Lagerfeld Paris women's brand across Macy's. Thus, it is well-positioned with the diversified product categories across its power brands, including DKNY, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Karl Lagerfeld Paris, to cater to growing demand.

Management is focused on expanding its international business as well. GIII-Apparel’s efforts to bolster brands across channels with launches, improved marketing strategies and a broader consumer reach will keep yielding results. GIII’s brand strength coupled with sturdy digital efforts and other strategic efforts are likely to retain its momentum ahead. A VGM Score of A for this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock further highlights its potential. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Eye These Solid Picks Too

Some better-ranked stocks in the Consumer Discretionary space are Gildan Activewear (GIL - Free Report) , Delta Apparel and Columbia Sportswear (COLM - Free Report) .

Gildan Activewear presently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 at present. GIL has an expected EPS growth rate of 8% for three-five years.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Gildan Activewear’s 2022 sales and earnings per share (EPS) suggests growth of 8.9% and 3.3%, respectively, from the corresponding year-ago reported figures. GIL has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 66.6%, on average.

Delta Apparel currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1. DLA has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 21.3%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Delta Apparel's current financial year’s sales and EPS suggests growth of 12.3% and 19.1%, respectively, from the corresponding year-ago period's reported numbers.

Columbia Sportswear currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). COLM has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 203.3%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Columbia Sportswear's current financial-year sales suggests growth of 17.7% and the same for EPS indicates growth of 8.1% from the respective year-ago period's reported figures. COLM has an expected EPS growth rate of 9% for three-five years.


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