Birkenstock Holding Plc: 'Buckle up' for growth; initiating coverage at Buy and a $60 PT -- BTIG Research
BTIG's Janine Stichter offered, "BIRK stands out as a unique retail growth story that marries a long brand legacy with future expansion potential, capable of delivering strong DD% top-line growth (long-term algo calls for mid-to-high teens) with stable to improving margins. In our view, this level of robust yet relatively predictable growth should command a premium multiple. However, given recent noise around slower DTC performance and investor skittishness on upfront capacity investments, the shares have pulled back more than 20% off the highs, putting multiples below peers where the growth is slower and less predictable, in our view. To this end, we note several factors that remain under-appreciated, including (1) BIRK's function-led approach and strong consumer loyalty, which drives both high repeat purchases (corroborated by our own survey work) and a more stable financial profile, (2) the quality of BIRK's distribution network, which allows wholesale to serve as a key customer acquisition vehicle and a highly profitable extension of its own DTC business, and (3) the ability for recent investments (which double production capacity) to allow BIRK to realize its growth opportunities and scale globally. We initiate coverage with a Buy rating and $60 PT."