By Sam Boughedda
Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) shares were raised to Buy from Neutral by Citi analysts on Tuesday in reaction to the athletic apparel retailer's latest earnings release. The analysts also lifted the firm's price target on the stock to $440 from $350 per share.
The upgrade also follows Citi opening an upside 30-day catalyst watch last week ahead of the release.
The analysts said the firm liked the stock going into the release, but they feel even better following the results and the company's F23 outlook.
They added that several investment highlights support the firm's Buy rating, including the inventory-to-sales gap being better than expected and a pathway to further improvement with limited markdown pressure.
There are "no signs of a sales slowdown with 1Q trends starting stronger than expected, underscoring LULU's brand strength/momentum in its largest market," the analysts wrote. "China is poised to rapidly accelerate growth in F23 and become a much more meaningful long-term growth driver (8% of F22 sales; we est 22% by F27)."