Why Movado Has Lagged Its Luxury Peers

On Wednesday, Movado will release its latest quarterly results. The stock has hit some bumps in the road lately, raising questions about whether it can successfully compete with its luxury-retail peers.

Overall, the luxury space has done relatively well lately, with the upper end of the income scale holding up better than broader-based retailers relying on a mainstream customer base for the bulk of their revenue. Movado has made some interesting strategic moves, but investors haven't been certain about its long-term success lately. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Movado over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its quarterly report.

Stats on Movado

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Is Movado a timely stock right now?
Analysts have reduced their views on Movado's earnings substantially in the past few months, reducing their estimates for the April quarter by $0.06 per share. However, they've been less nervous about its longer-term prospects, cutting their full-year estimates by only half that amount. Nevertheless, the stock hasn't done too well, falling 5% since late February.

Movado has put in place a number of lucrative partnerships, going beyond selling its own line of luxury watches by creating watch lines for other luxury retailers. By latching onto the success of fellow luxury retailers Coach and the Juicy Couture division of Fifth & Pacific , Movado ensures that it's able to get customers from multiple sources targeting different demographics.

But competition in the watch industry has gotten incredibly fierce. Archrival Fossil has pushed ahead with partnership and expansion plans of its own, with its acquisition of Skagen last year helping to push sales higher. Earlier this month, Fossil posted its own strong earnings report, with a 24% jump in net income coming from a better-than-15% gain in revenue. Although direct sales through its own stores brought in the best margins, Fossil's partnership with Michael Kors and other third-party sales also led to substantial growth.

The big issue for Movado this quarter is whether its near-term results turn out as badly as it projected back in March, when it gave negative guidance along with its January quarter results. Yet despite taking a charge related to aligning its partnership with Coach to reflect Coach's strategic shift, Movado expects long-term sales growth in the 10% range throughout the next several years.

In Movado's report, look for signs of whether the retailer is falling behind Fossil in the watch space. In the fashion world, falling out of favor is always a troubling sign, but with so much promise, Movado needs to post the same strong results that Fossil did in order to reassure investors of its long-term success.

Michael Kors is one of today's hottest high-end fashion brands, and that's translated into one of the best-performing stocks in retail -- since its debut on the market in late 2011, the share price has more than doubled. But with all that growth, has the stock finally become too expensive, or is there still room left to run? The Motley Fool's premium report on Michael Kors gives investors all the information they need to make the right decision. We cover the key must-watch areas, opportunities, and threats to the company that investors need to know. To claim your copy, simply click here now for instant access.

Click here to add Movado to My Watchlist, which can find all of our Foolish analysis on it and all your other stocks.

The article Why Movado Has Lagged Its Luxury Peers originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter: @DanCaplinger. The Motley Fool recommends Coach and Fossil and owns shares of Coach, Fossil, and Movado Group. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.