What Analysts Are Saying About Skullcandy

Skullcandy Inc SKUL released its fourth quarter earnings report on March 5. The headphone and wireless audio company's key demographic includes outdoor sports enthusiasts, though Skullcandy now sells its products in 80 countries.

In late February, the NPD market research group named Skullcandy the "number one selling brand of total headphones and ‘in-ear' headphones for 2014 measured in units sold" in the United States. Skullcandy management saw this accolade as a milestone of the company's expansion from being a "leading youth culture lifestyle headphone brand to being one of the most relevant performance audio brands in the United States."

In the company's fourth quarter results announced on March 5, Skullcandy posted net income per diluted share of $0.26, slightly above the analyst estimate of $0.25 and doubled from the same quarter of last year. The headphones company posted revenue of $96.8 million, clearing analysts' estimates of $82.1 million and marking a 34 percent year-over-year increase.

Domestic net sales increased 37 percent year-over-year to $70.6 million, while international net sales increased 27 percent to $26.3 million. Operating income also nearly doubled year-over-year, increasing from $5.5 million to $10.8 million.

CEO Hoby Darling was pleased with Skullcandy's performance and optimistic about the future, commenting, "Our recent performance demonstrates that our strategy of exciting our consumer through innovation and leveraging our brand and capabilities into adjacent audio categories is working… The business is becoming more diversified, our teams are aligned and hungry for success, and we have a clearly defined roadmap for the future that is working. The foundations have been set for 2015 and we are on full attack."

On March 6, analyst Andrew Burns of D.A. Davidson reiterated a Buy rating on Skullcandy and raised his price target from $12 to $14.

Burns noted that the company's quarterly report beat his estimates, and commented, "Gross margin ticked down 21bp to 43.3%, reflecting a shift in product mix towards high growth products with lower margins, paired with higher air freight related charges (~$1.1 million) in connection with the west coast port slowdown."

The analyst continued, "Operating leverage was created by sales growth, partially offset by opportunistic demand creation spend and higher incentive comp." He added that Skullcandy has a "compelling product assortment."

Andrew Burns has a 73 percent overall success rate recommending stocks with a +7.6 percent average return per recommendation.

Separately on March 6, analyst Dave King of Roth Capital reiterated a Buy rating on Skullcandy and set a price target of $13. He noted in January that he sees "the potential for upside in 2015 from increased doors and shelf space at Walmart and expanding distribution through Amazon."

Dave King has a 57 percent overall success rate recommending stocks with a +5.6 percent average return per recommendation.

Overall, the top analyst consensus for Skullcandy on TipRanks is Strong Buy.