Benzinga - Footwear retailer Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) shares hit a new 52-week high during intraday trading on Friday before closing off the mark.
Running Strides: Colorado-based Crocs has seen its shares go only one way since they bottomed in early July 2022. When the broader market, including high-profile tech stocks, came under intense selling pressure in the second half of 2022, Crocs went against the tide. The trough-to-peak advance since the July 2022 low of $46.08 is about 222%.
Over the past year, the stock has added about 93%.
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In the same timeframe, the broader market, as measured by the performance of the S&P 500 Index, has fallen 7.3%, and the retail sector, as represented by the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSE: XRT), has declined about 18%.
Retail giant Walmart, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is down 3.43% over the past year. Tech stalwarts Meta Platforms, Inc. (NYSE: META) and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), meanwhile, have added 6.22% and 2.64%, respectively — despite having the distinction as the best-performing mega-cap stocks thus far this year. Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock, on the other hand, has edged down 0.72%.
What’s Making Crocs Tick: While most of its peers have suffered amid an uncertain economic climate that has dented consumer confidence, Crocs has shown marked resilience. The company grew its revenue by 54% to $3.55 billion last year, with its namesake brand fetching a revenue of $2.66 billion.
Crocs' wholesale channel accounted for 55% of its sales, while direct-to-consumer made up 45% in 2022. Online sales from its sites and third-party marketplaces — such as Amazon, Zappos, Zalando and Alibaba’s Tmall — made up 38%.
The company’s gross margin last year stood at an enviable 52.3%, while Walmart's gross margin was about half that percentage.
Recently, capital market company B. Riley initiated coverage of Crocs with a "Buy" rating and a $157 price target. Analyst Jeff Lick said he expects the company to benefit from current inventory challenges in the footwear space. The next big catalyst could be the company's first-quarter results due on Thursday.
Crocs ended Friday's session down 0.99% at $147.18.
Read Next: If You Invested $1,000 In Crocs Stock When It Launched Justin Bieber Shoes, Here's How Much You'd Have Now
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