The news in Under Armour’s (UAA) 2017 third-quarter earnings report was mostly bad.
The Baltimore-based sports apparel company reported revenue of $1.41 billion, a decline of 5% vs the same quarter last year. It was its first year-over-year revenue decline as a public company. Analysts had expected revenue of $1.48 billion. Earnings per share came in at 22 cents, a beat compared to analyst expectations of 19 cents.
Most importantly, Under Armour slashed its full-year outlook for 2017. Management now expects 2017 full-year revenue to be up in the low single digits, whereas earlier this year it had predicted gains as high as 11%.
In a press release, Under Armour predicts full-year operating income to come in at “0 to $10 million.” In other words, the company might not cut a profit in 2017.
Under Armour shares fell 15% in early trading on Tuesday.
“Clearly this is a much different profile for the year than we discussed 90 days ago,” said acting CFO Dave Bergman on Tuesday’s earnings call. “On that call, we outlined several key factors we thought would come to fruition… demand and challenges in North America significantly altered the terrain.”
Adjusted for nonrecurring items, management expects to generate operating income of $140 million to $150 million, which would pan out to earnings per share of $0.18 to $0.20.
What’s going wrong for Under Armour?
The biggest problem area for Under Armour right now is its most important region: North America.
Revenue in North America fell 12% to $1.07 billion, with wholesale revenue down 13% to $880 million. Direct to consumer revenue was up 15% to $468 million. This means consumers who like Under Armour are continuing to order product directly from the company. But they are not buying the brand in sporting goods stores; or when they do, it is at a discount.
“We’ve got significant challenges in our North American wholesale business,” CEO Kevin Plank acknowledged, “which represents 60% of what we do.”
U.S. sports apparel is an increasingly promotional environment, meaning that brands are offering a lot of discounts and sales. Back in January, when Under Armour’s streak of 26 straight quarters with 20% or higher revenue growth first ended, Plank identified the discounting problem, and it has only gotten worse since then.
“The role both we and our retailers expect us to play is as a premium, full-price brand,” Plank said at the time. (More recently, in August, he framed things in starker terms: “We’re pivoting.”)
Much of the problem has been the overall decline of brick-and-mortar sporting goods chains. But some analysts are now saying that Under Armour’s problems are not just about the larger market.