The apparel retailer said a new digital strategy will grow its channel to $1 billion
The shares of Express, Inc. (NYSE:EXPR) are soaring today, up 21.3% at $4.10 at last check, after the apparel retailer reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter losses of 66 cents per share. The company also beat sales estimates, and noted it is finalizing a new digital strategy that will grow its channel to $1 billion by 2024, with more details to come in this year's second quarter. Finally, it added it expects comparable sales improvement throughout 2021.
On the charts, the equity had been trading sideways for much of the past year, until a massive bull gap pushed shares to a Jan. 27, four-year high of $13.97. Shares quickly lost steam, but managed to find a floor at the 60- and 320-day moving averages. Now, the security is trying to break out above the $4 mark. In the past six months, EXPR has added a whopping 398.6%.
Analysts are skeptical towards Express stock, with with all four in coverage carrying a tepid "hold" rating. Plus, the 12-month consensus target price of $1.42 is a 58% discount to current levels. This leaves the door wide open for price-target hikes and/or upgrades going forward.
Meanwhile, short sellers are already hitting the exits in droves. Short interest fell 30.7% in the most recent reporting period, yet the 5.93 million shares sold short still make up 9.8% of the stock's available float.
Drilling down to today's options activity, more than 35,000 calls have crossed the tape in just the first half hour of trading, which is seven times the intraday average. Most popular is the 3/12 4-strike call, followed by the 5-strike call in the same weekly series, with new positions being opened at the latter. Buyers of these options are expecting more upside for EXPR by the end of the week, when contracts expire.