What Happened:
Shares of intimatewear and beauty retailer Victoria’s Secret (NYSE:VSCO) jumped 5.8% in the afternoon session after Barclays analyst upgraded the stock's rating from Underweight (Sell) to Equal Weight (Hold), citing improved leadership and inventory management and a return to core brand fundamentals. After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $25.10, up 3.4% from previous close.
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What is the market telling us:
Victoria's Secret’s shares are quite volatile and over the last year have had 46 moves greater than 5%. In context of that, today’s move is indicating the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 19 days ago, when the stock dropped 7.2% on the news that the company reported second-quarter earnings results. Its earnings forecast for next quarter missed analysts' expectations, and its gross margin missed Wall Street's estimates. On the other hand, VSCO slightly beat analysts' revenue guidance expectations. Overall, this quarter was a mixed but weaker quarter.
Victoria's Secret is down 7.3% since the beginning of the year, and at $25.10 per share it is trading 17.7% below its 52-week high of $30.50 from February 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Victoria's Secret’s shares at the IPO in July 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $591.29.
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