One of B.C.’s largest homegrown retailers, Lululemon Athletica Inc.
(Nasdaq:LULU), saw its sales, profit and share price soar during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s operational growth has since slowed, raising concerns that more subdued performance could become the retailer’s new normal. After Lululemon shares hit an all-time-high closing price of US$511.
29 on Dec. 29—the last trading day of 2023—the company’s share price plunged despite stock markets having a banner year. By June 5, ahead of the company’s first-quarter earnings release, Lululemon’s share price had fallen 39.
7 per cent from that 2023 closing high, to US$308.27. Founder Chip Wilson still owns a large stake in the company, but that has not kept him from criticizing the athleisure giant for trying to chase higher profit margins and embarking on what he said was a “slow march to becoming The Gap (NYSE:GPS), with cheap acrylic sweaters,” according to a March LinkedIn post.
Another contributing factor to the company’s share-price decline was its May 22 announcement that its well-regarded, longtime chief product officer, Sun Choe, was leaving the company. Shares fell as much as seven per cent that day. VF Corp.
(NYSE:VFC) two weeks later announced that it had hired Choe to become global brand president at its Vans division in late July. VF Corp.’s share price rose 10 per cent following that news, again underscoring Choe’s influence and esteem in the fashion world.
Instead of replacing .
