Elliott Invests in Lululemon (LULU.US) Analysts Value Leadership Changes

Zhitongcaijing · 1d ago

The Zhitong Finance App learned that, according to reports, the activist investor Elliott Investment Management (Elliott Investment Management) has established an active shareholding of more than 1 billion US dollars in Lululemon Athletica (LULU.US), making it one of the company's largest shareholders, and is preparing to drive major leadership and strategic changes.

Notably, Elliott has been working closely with senior retail executive Jane Nielsen, former chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Ralph Lauren, for several months, and sees him as a potential CEO candidate. Elliott Investment Management, led by Paul Singer, has also previously actively invested in companies such as Honeywell (HON.US), Southwest Airlines (LUV.US), Starbucks (SBUX.US), and Phillips 66 (PSX.US).

On Wall Street, Jefferies analyst Randall Kornick said that as CEO Lululemon is leaving, the company believes that a fresh board of directors, a thoughtful CEO with real leadership, and a return to Lululemon's original intentions are essential. Meanwhile, Needham analyst Tom Nikique believes Jane Nielsen would be a strong candidate for the CEO position. “Given her tremendous success with Ralph Lauren and Coach, we think her joining would help revive Lululemon,” Nikique emphasized.

Analyst The J Thesis believes Lululemon's valuation has been unreasonably undervalued. His analysis stated, “Despite all concerns about weak tariffs and consumption, Lululemon's revenue has increased by 8.76% over the past 12 months, 2.5 times the average growth rate of 3.44% of its peers. Frankly speaking, although its forward price-earnings ratio is significantly discounted compared to the benchmark index, this is not far from the 10% historical average growth rate of the S&P 500 constituent companies.”

Affected by this news, Lululemon's stock price surged 7.4% in pre-market trading, and its 52-week price range was $159.25 to $423.32. Currently, short positions on this stock account for 6.8% of the total number of tradable shares.