Slow sales of Curry's shoes wipe off 600 million of Under Armour's market value

Under Armour lost nearly 600 million dollars of its value as a company Friday, as its stock plummeted by more than 4 percent after the CEO of Foot Locker said the latest version of its Steph Curry shoe wasn't doing as well as expected, reported ESPN.

On an earnings call, Foot Locker CEO Richard Johnson noted that the Curry 2.0 and 2.5 shoes "performed well" during Q3 but the Curry 3.0, which came out October, 27, "started off a bit slower than the two previous models," according to Dow Jones, though he acknowledged that it's still early.

Johnson said on Foot Locker's earnings call that the basketball shoe market was softer than in the past, though he did say the Curry 2 and Curry 2.5 shoes, as well as Nike's Kyrie Irving line, were able to break through.

Johnson also said it's still "early days" to completely judge the Curry 3. As of Tuesday, the Curry 3 has will have been on sale for a month.

Under Armour’s market value reduced in 600 million dollars after Curry3.0 fiasco

"We're optimistic that they [Under Armour] are going to be able to continue to keep that [footwear business] with some momentum behind it and certainly expand their footwear offerings," Johnson said.

Although Curry's products make up only about 5 percent (200 million dollars according to Investors Chronicle’s own calculations) of Under Armour's total annual business, he is the company's most prominent endorser.

The slower-than-expected performance of this line sent the stock to a 4.4 percent fall to 30.90 dollars on the stock market Friday.

"Our inventory is fresh and well-positioned as we prepare for the important holiday selling season, and we remain well on track to achieve our annual guidance of a mid-single digit comparable-store sales gain and double-digit earnings per share growth," said CFO Lauren Peters in a statement.

In a note before the earnings conference call, FBR analyst Susan Anderson said Foot Locker "has done a good job of diversifying its offerings, such as into classic footwear and running." And Susquehanna analyst Sam Poser wrote that he sees "no reason why" the retailer wouldn't be able to achieve mid-single-digit same-store sales growth in the future.

Footwear has been an increasingly lucrative business for Under Armour, having generated 786 million dollars in revenue for the first nine months of 2016 and enjoyed a sales increase of 54 percent (compared against that of apparel sales, up 19 percent.)

Image:Curry 3.0 by Under Armour, Foot Locker Web