Out Fox The $treet

Under Armour continues to trade near all-time highs despite the market weakness. The athletic apparel retailer trades at multiples considered stretched for other fast-growing retailers. Investors need to carefully consider what might happen to the stock when the party ends. While the market was all caught up with Under Armour (NYSE: UA ) raising the sales target at its Investor Day , investors need to keep in mind that retail "fad" stocks don't typically end well. The market has a recent history of Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ: LULU ) to Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS ) to even athletic apparel leader Nike (NYSE: NKE ) as reasons for caution. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Michael Kors reported mixed results and provided a major guide down for the current quarter. The Coach example suggests that Michael Kors is unlikely to rebound from the collapsing stock price anytime soon. Limited downside risk is not a good enough reason to own the stock. With Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS ) down nearly 25% in trading on Wednesday following a weak quarterly report , investors that bought shortly after the IPO back in early 2012 now have limited gains. The large success of Michael Kors along with the recent resilience of Coach (NYSE: COH ) might highlight a saturated market for high-end handbags and related accessories. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Anybody following Fifth & Pacific ( NYSE: FNP     ) knows the stock trades based on the prospects of the fast-growing Kate Spade brand. Not surprisingly, the company recently unloaded the Juicy Couture brand to focus on further growing Kate Spade. The deal was for what appears to be a sizable discount, and Lucky Brands could be next. Will this streamlining of Fifth & Pacific into solely Kate Spade provide more value, or did management sell Juicy at a pittance to the detriment of long-term shareholders? Back in 2012, the three brands had roughly equal sales, but the success of Kate Spade offered greater potential. Also, the recent success and valuation of Michael Kors ( NYSE: KORS     ) and the past success of Coach ( NYSE: COH     ) encouraged a focus on Kate Spade. At the same time, though, both Juicy Couture and Lucky Brands provided the potential for major turnarounds. Unfortunately, as 2013 has progressed, the secondary br...

After previously writing about Fifth & Pacific Companies (NYSE: FNP ) when the stock was trading around $14, the recent jump to the $19 level is worth reviewing. The stock has been on a steady rise as brand kate spade registered 27% comp sales growth in Q4 and rumors spread that the company was looking to sell positions in the lagging brands. The former Liz Claiborne is probably even less known having more » Disclosure: Long FNP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Editors Choice Most investors probably haven’t noticed the strong growth of the kate spade brand since it’s been wrapped up as a small component in Fifth & Pacific  (NYSE: FNP ) . As the brand continues to grow at dizzying comps, it has quickly become a bigger catalyst for the company as a whole. The former Liz Claiborne is probably even less known having changed names to Fifth & Pacific back in 2012. After more » Disclosure: Long FNP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

After the close on Monday, Fifth & Pacific Companies, Inc (FNP) warned that earnings would not meet expectations due to weakness with the Juicy Couture brand. With the stock trading down nearly 12%, the market is missing the surging results at kate spade. The company designs and markets a portfolio of retail-based, premium, global lifestyle brands including Juicy Couture, kate spade, and Lucky Brand. In addition, the Adelington Design Group markets private brand jewelry and the company licenses the Liz Claiborne New York brand. It also owns 18.75% of Mexx. While the other divisions continue hitting on all cylinders, the Juicy Couture brand continues to struggle. Management had expected Juicy to turn around by the 2H of 2012, but the rewarding turnarounds at kate spade and Lucky Brand also took longer than originally expected. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long FNP. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Most investors know that one of the best investments can be a retail store that goes from a regional concept to a national powerhouse. Investors reading the local papers and frequenting a regional concept can have an advantage over the major investment funds stuck in New York. Michael Kors Holdings Limited (KORS) is such a company that has gone through a rapid expansion plan going from 177 stores to 253 over the last 12 months as of June 2012. The company is a global luxury lifestyle brand with a multi-channel strategy established in 1981. The flip side of a buying a regional to national play is identifying a company that has maxed out the expansion possibilities by reaching a majority of states. Typically, this occurs when over 40 states have been reached while already populating California, Florida, New York and Texas with a large amount of stores. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details....

Any investor paying attention should know this last week was the busiest IPO week in the U.S. in years. The slate was headlined by well-known Facebook game maker Zynga (ZNGA), with secondary focus on Jive Software (JIVE) and luxury retailer Michael Kors (KORS). The rest of the IPO's had limited focus. Already knowing the issues with Zynga are similar to Groupon (GRPN) and Angie's List (ANGI), we quickly zipped past that offering (dropped 5% on first trading day Friday). Read Why Angie's List Shouldn't Be Listing for more details. MIchael Kors is interesting as well, but the stock looks pricey and investors already have plenty of luxury retailers to buy. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.