Analyst: Reaction to Criticism of 'Chef Curry' Shoe Cooking Up Buying Opportunity for Under Armour

Under Armour Inc UA's stock continues to trade within striking distance of its 52-week low of $35.35 but Camilo Lyon of Canaccord Genuity thinks now is a good time to buy the stock. According to Lyon, social media and entertainers such as Stephen Colbert are blasting Under Armour's latest Stephen Curry branded "Chef Curry" shoes as being "bland, boring and suburban." The negative attention towards the company began last Friday and the stock has dipped 5 percent since then. Lyon continued that the Curry 2 shoes is actually a "non-core style" and not intended to be a big contributor to its overall basketball shoe sales. In fact, the Curry 2 basketball shoe line represents less than 5 percent of the total dollar volume sales. Despite the negative backlash, the analyst's channel checks and discussions with industry contacts reveal that the shoe has "actually sold better" than prior models, likely due to all the negative attention paid to it. Meanwhile, Under Armour will release the Curry 2.5 73-9 on Saturday, a new shoe that commemorates Curry's Golden State Warriors' epic and record setting season. "This past year's success of Steph Curry and his impact on UA's basketball franchise has far exceeded anyone's expectations,UA's included," Lyon argued. "s such, UA's product offering is now in the spotlight, especially for the sneakerhead community that can create instant classics with long life cycles." Bottom line, Lyon stated that Under Armour has invested heavily invested in its basketball shoe business and each future shoe release will result in "significant improvement" in quality and sales. As such, investors should take advantage of the current weakness in shares as a buying opportunity. Shares remain Buy rated with an unchanged $65 price target.