Under Armour shares fall despite strong sales

Photo at top: Under Armour's new location on the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago. (Ezra Kaplan/Medill)

By Ezra Kaplan

Shares of Under Armour Inc. fell almost 5 percent as the company reported a 13 percent drop in net income and a 2015 outlook that fell short of Wall Street expectations.

The Baltimore, Maryland-based athletic apparel company blamed a strong dollar and a variety of one-time disruptions for the reduction in profit.

For the quarter ended March 31, net income fell to $11.7 million, or 5 cents per diluted share, from $13.5 million, or 6 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago period.

“Several external headwinds, including the strong U.S. dollar, negatively affected our business,” said Brad Dickerson, chief financial officer of Under Armour. “In addition our North American business experienced some disruptions from the West Coast port delays and weather related store closures during the period.”

Despite these setbacks, the company reported a 25 percent jump in revenues across all product lines to $804.9 million in the March quarter from $641.6 million a year ago.

Revenue from Connected Fitness more than doubled as the company finished acquiring Endomondo and MyFitnessPal, bringing the total arsenal of fitness apps to four.

“Three of our four apps are now completely compatible with the Apple Watch and we encourage it,” said CEO and Chairman Kevin Plank in a conference call with analysts.

“Bottom-line, business fundamentals remain very strong,” said Lindsay Drucker Mann, analyst at Goldman Sachs Research. “The slower revenue in apparel and direct-to-customer business may inspire some profit-taking today.”

Shares of Under Armour fell $4.15 to $83.61 amid heavy volume Tuesday.

Photo at top: Under Armour’s new location on the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago. (Ezra Kaplan/Medill)