While Under Armour Inc.’s turnaround won’t happen overnight, there’s reason for optimism.
A regulatory filing on Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed that Canadian investor Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. and its affiliates together have a acquired beneficial ownership of Class A Common Stock in Under Armour totaling 22.2 percent, or nearly 42 million shares. The filing said the share acquisition was for “investment purposes,” and that one or more affiliates of Fairfax may decide to purchase additional securities of Under Armour in the open market.
Shares of Under Armour closed on Tuesday at $5.43 in Big Board trading. For the month of December, the shares have traded as low as $4.07 and as high as $4.95. That’s lower than the $7.54 the shares were at when trading began on Jan. 2, 2025. In the back half of 2024, Under Armour shares at one point had an intraday high of $10.62, although the trading range for the period was more centered at between $6.50 and $8.50.
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Has Under Armour’s share price hit its bottom?
A proprietary global sportswear survey from UBS on Friday suggested that investors “materially undervalue the Under Armour brand name.”
According to analyst Jay Sole, “Under Armour remains one of the world’s best known and liked athletic wear brands.” He said the survey results show that Under Armour belongs in the same class of brands that include Lululemon, Jordan, Adidas, Puma, On, Hoka, Skechers and New Balance.
The market watcher has a “buy” rating on shares of Under Armour. “Our view is an improving North America sales growth rate will boost the stock’s valuation,” Sole said.
The survey asked about athletic apparel purchase intentions on a global basis for the next 12 months, and Under Armour ranked fourth among the global brands, behind Nike, Adidas, and Puma.
The same question for athletic footwear saw Under Armour at 11th place, behind Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Puma, Air Jordan, Asics, Anta, Skechers, Li-Ning and Converse.
When it comes to the U.S. market, Under Armour fares better. Under Armour place third, behind Nike and Adidas, when it comes to apparel purchase intentions. The same question for footwear in the U.S. market saw Under Armour making the top 10, just ahead of Brooks — but behind Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Air Jordan, Puma, Skechers, Reebok and Asics.
Despite a second-quarter net loss of $18.8 million on revenue of $1.33 billion, Williams Trading analyst Sam Poser said quarterly results indicate that Under Armour “is on the right track.” The analyst also noted that his retail checks indicate that young consumers have begun to “gravitate to the Under Armour brand,” adding that what the company needed is more innovating marketing.
President and CEO Kevin Plank said during a Nov. 6 conference call that the brand’s category management model has a clear focus on training, running and sportswear. And he said that in streamlining the assortments, the company has been working on bringing “innovation and style back to the center of what we do.” And for footwear, the strategy is to build on the “franchises that are already successful.”
And while fall-winter 2025 is when early green shoots will show, Plank said “spring-summer 2026 only gets stronger and is also filled with innovation.”
Moreover, Under Armour’s well-received move in mid-November to part with Steph Curry was part of restructuring plan that is expected to see the apparel and shoe firm focus on its own UA brand.
