In This Article:
adidas AG ADDYY posted preliminary results for the fourth quarter of 2024. In the same quarter, currency-neutral revenues rose 19%. In euro terms, the company’s revenues grew 24%. Excluding Yeezy, revenues on a currency-neutral basis jumped 18% year over year. The gross margin climbed 5.2 percentage points to 49.8% while operating profit reached €57 million.
Based on the preliminary unaudited numbers, ADDYY's revenues, on a currency-neutral basis, were up 12%, while in euro terms, the metric rose 11% from the previous year.
Excluding Yeezy, currency-neutral revenues moved up 13%. The company’s gross margin jumped 3.3 percentage points to 50.8% in 2024 while the operating profit rose more than €1 billion to €1,337 million.
More on ADDYY
Management is pleased with the progress seen in the fourth quarter and 2024. The quarterly revenue growth demonstrates the company’s efforts and continued momentum for its brands and products. Robust growth in all regions and divisions acts as a positive. ADDYY’s products have been resonating well with consumers across both Lifestyle and Performance.
The company remains optimistic about the future and sees huge potential for share expansion in all markets. Despite tough macroeconomic uncertainty, the company looks forward to accomplishing its target of growing double-digit with the adidas brand as well as boosting operating profit and achieving 10% margin target. It aims to release its final set of 2024 financial results and outlook for 2025 on March 5, 2025.
The company has been successful at maintaining a strong footing in the U.S. sports apparel space, thanks to its strong brand image, strategic growth efforts and prudent marketing endeavors. Solid momentum in the company’s namesake brand remains a key driver. It is benefiting from robust product demand in categories like football and outdoor.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Its direct-to-consumer (DTC) business has been performing well. Within DTC, the company’s retail stores have been doing well, backed by the robust sell-out in its concept store fleet. The company has been focused on lowering discounting activity while enhancing the overall business mix on its online platforms. ADDYY’s innovation efforts also bode well.
Driven by such positives, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 26.4%, outperforming the industry’s 2.6% decline.
Key Consumer Discretionary Picks
We have highlighted three better-ranked stocks, namely, G-III Apparel Group GIII, Gildan Activewear GIL and Royal Caribbean RCL.
G-III Apparel is a manufacturer, designer and distributor of apparel and accessories under licensed brands, owned brands and private label brands. It sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
GIII Apparel has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 113.4%, on average. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GIII Apparel’s current financial-year sales indicates growth of 1.7% from the year-ago figure.
Gildan Activewear, a manufacturer of premium quality branded basic activewear, carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. GIL has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 5.4%, on average.
The consensus estimate for Gildan Activewear’s current financial-year EPS indicates growth of 13.8% from the year-ago figure.
Royal Caribbean carries a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. RCL has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 16.2%, on average.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RCL’s 2024 sales and EPS indicates an increase of 9.4% and 23.9%, respectively, from the year-ago levels.