Should You Think About Buying Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) Now?

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) led the NASDAQGS gainers with a relatively large price hike in the past couple of weeks. With many analysts covering the large-cap stock, we may expect any price-sensitive announcements have already been factored into the stock’s share price. But what if there is still an opportunity to buy? Let’s examine Lululemon Athletica’s valuation and outlook in more detail to determine if there’s still a bargain opportunity.

View our latest analysis for Lululemon Athletica

What's The Opportunity In Lululemon Athletica?

Lululemon Athletica appears to be expensive according to my price multiple model, which makes a comparison between the company's price-to-earnings ratio and the industry average. In this instance, I’ve used the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio given that there is not enough information to reliably forecast the stock’s cash flows. I find that Lululemon Athletica’s ratio of 51.01x is above its peer average of 12.11x, which suggests the stock is trading at a higher price compared to the Luxury industry. But, is there another opportunity to buy low in the future? Given that Lululemon Athletica’s share is fairly volatile (i.e. its price movements are magnified relative to the rest of the market) this could mean the price can sink lower, giving us another chance to buy in the future. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility.

What kind of growth will Lululemon Athletica generate?

Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Although value investors would argue that it’s the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. With profit expected to more than double over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for Lululemon Athletica. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.

What This Means For You

Are you a shareholder? It seems like the market has well and truly priced in LULU’s positive outlook, with shares trading above industry price multiples. However, this brings up another question – is now the right time to sell? If you believe LULU should trade below its current price, selling high and buying it back up again when its price falls towards the industry PE ratio can be profitable. But before you make this decision, take a look at whether its fundamentals have changed.

Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping tabs on LULU for some time, now may not be the best time to enter into the stock. The price has surpassed its industry peers, which means it is likely that there is no more upside from mispricing. However, the positive outlook is encouraging for LULU, which means it’s worth diving deeper into other factors in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

So if you'd like to dive deeper into this stock, it's crucial to consider any risks it's facing. While conducting our analysis, we found that Lululemon Athletica has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore them.

If you are no longer interested in Lululemon Athletica, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.