Equity Research Focusing on the Consumer Sector, Small Cap Consumer Research

Small Cap Consumer Research

Equity research on small cap consumer names.

Equity Research Focusing on the Consumer Sector

Small Cap Consumer Research, LLC is a leading company-sponsored equity research provider focusing on the consumer sector (apparel, brand licensing and specialty retailing segments).

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>We are reiterating our Buy rating and price target for Vera Bradley ahead of 2QF25 (July) earnings on Wednesday, but taking a materially more conservative outlook on the pace of the company's New Day initiative to drive material top and bottom line upside.</li><li>While we believe the somewhat incremental shifts to the outlet stores are potentially a near-term positive, the complete remake of the main line locations, while we believe a potential positive in the long run, has somewhat shocked the core Vera Bradley customer and, we believe, resulted in a near-term negative, during the heart of the critical back-to-school/campus season.</li><li>Further, in resetting the entire main line store, the company has aggressively discounted prior looks to clear goods, which, we believe, has led to deeper than initially projected gross margin declines.</li></ul>

We are reiterating our Buy rating and price target for Vera Bradley ahead of 2QF25 (July) earnings on Wednesday, but taking a materially more conservative outlook on the pace of the company's New Day initiative to drive material top and bottom line upside.While we believe the somewhat incremental shifts to the outlet stores are potentially a near-term positive, the complete remake of the main line locations, while we believe a potential positive in the long run, has somewhat shocked the core Vera Bradley customer and, we believe, resulted in a near-term negative, during the heart of the critical back-to-school/campus season.Further, in resetting the entire main line store, the company has aggressively discounted prior looks to clear goods, which, we believe, has led to deeper than initially projected gross margin declines.

VRA: 2Q Preview: Shocking the System Right Move, But NT Impacted; Reiterate Buy