An Insider Bought Shares of G-III Apparel

We would compare G-III to Gildan Activewear Inc (NYSE:GIL), Columbia Sportswear Company (NASDAQ:COLM), Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), and NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE). Columbia is the only one of these peers to have a trailing P/E of less than 20 (at 19), so G-III ends up looking quite cheap compared to these other companies. In fact, Under Armour and Gildan trade at 30 times trailing earnings or even higher. In addition, Columbia and Nike actually reported lower net income in their most recent quarter compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year; while earnings were up strongly and Under Armour and Gildan, we’ve already noted their premium pricing.

G-III’s earnings multiples are quite low, and certainly don’t reflect the high value the market is placing on similar companies. The business has been doing well recently, and with earnings expected to continue moderate growth the stock does look quite attractive. We’d be very curious to discover why there is so much short interest; unless there turns out to be a very persuasive short case G-III might make for a good buy or as the long side of a pair trade with one of its peers.