Coach results were strong this morning coming in $0.03 ahead of the Wall Street consensus ($0.73 vs. $0.70 expectations). The drivers of the strong results are North American comp sales of +9.2% coupled with tremendous international growth. Coach is a global brand which is in the early stages of its growth cycle as distribution across Asia is hitting high gear. Over the past decade, Coach built a very strong business in Japan and has surpassed all the European luxury brands save Louis Vuitton (but this shouldn’t count as a brand in Japan it is really the Japanese women’s uniform).
Coach has one of the strongest business models in the world with 72% gross margins and very high operating margins (above 30%) as inexpensive handbags are made in China and sold around the world due to the tremendous brand equity in the “affordable luxury” space. Coach has no debt, and generates enough operating cash flows to self-fund all its own capital expenditure requirements, pay a dividend, buy back shares, and still generate excess cash for the balance sheet to boot. Coach’s growth is very high visibility as long as you believe that consumers in China, Asia Ex-Japan, Brazil, India, and Russia will want the product. The growth of the internet and global pop-culture is doing wonders for the growth rates of authentic global brands.
Coach is poised to earn well above Wall Street estimates this year. I forecast that the consensus $3.38 in earnings can easily exceed $3.50 and next year’s estimates of $3.89 are likely to be more like $4.10. Within 12 months time, if Coach can get back to its historical multiple range the shares have potential to trade to $75. Despite the recent rally from crisis lows, the shares look to have another 20% to go over the next year with a 1.5% dividend paid out along the way.
