Stefan Larsson — who’s been reengineering PVH Corp. to build up Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein — is feeling bullish.
And it seems to be a little contagious.
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The chief executive officer bought 15,645 shares of PVH at a price of $63.92 last week, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
That’s a $1 million investment by Larsson — and a signal to Wall Street, which likes it when CEOs eat their own cooking.
Tom Nikic, an analyst at Needham & Co. who recently started following PVH, called the stock purchase an “encouraging show of confidence by management, demonstrating their confidence in the current state of the business, and most likely representing confidence in guidance for Q2 and the fiscal year.”
Nikic said the stock purchase also highlights “how inexpensively the shares are currently being valued.”
The analyst pointed out that PVH has an enterprise value of about five times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization estimate for this year — down from the seven times it’s typically traded at and below the average of eight times seen by the company’s peers.
“While the macro environment is undoubtedly challenging, we think the shares have been overly punished, particularly with accretion from cost efficiencies and the G-III licenses hitting the [profit and loss statement over] the next three years,” Nikic said. “Thus, we view PVH as a compelling story, particularly for value-focused investors.”
There are a lot of moving parts at PVH, which is taking back its North American wholesale licenses from G-III Apparel Group, working out the kinks in Calvin Klein’s new global product kitchen, sharpening its inventory approach, and working to sync up product innovation with big-time marketing.
When it hits, it hits.
Last month, Larsson said Calvin Klein’s new Icon Cotton Stretch underwear, backed up by a high-profile campaign blitz featuring Bad Bunny, drove a 25 percent increase in revenues.
Larsson is still in the process of building a machine that can drive that kind of growth in a systematic, repeatable way.
“This purchase is a reflection of Mr. Larsson’s belief in PVH and in the company’s ability to continue to deliver long-term value as we make important progress on our multiyear growth strategy, the PVH+ plan,” a spokesperson said.
Investors were feeling the vibes.
Shares of PVH rose 4.4 percent on Monday and picked up another 5.2 percent to $72.19 in midday trading on Tuesday. That left the company with a market capitalization of $3.5 million — down from about $5.9 billion a year ago, but moving in the right direction.
