Citi: We Still 'Obi Wan-To-Own' Skechers After Huge Run Up

In a report published Tuesday, Citi analyst Corinna Van der Ghinst reiterated a Buy rating on Skechers USA, Inc. (NYSE: SKX), while raising the price target to $142. Although the stock has risen 120 percent, year to date, the analyst expects further upside potential to the valuation.Despite its impressive run so far in 2015, there could be further upside to the stock "as mgmt continues to execute on this ‘show-me' story and investors gain confidence in the sustainability of SKX's global LT growth," analyst Van der Ghinst said.Meetings with the management during Q2 suggest continued momentum in the spring order pull-forwards, positive feedback from retailers regarding spring 2016 and Skechers' major accounts planning for the brand for fall 2015. The analyst believes that international growth during 2016 would be driven by accelerating brand momentum in Europe, along with increasing distributor growth in China and the potential for a key Latin American distributor being taken in-house.During Q2, the company's POS sales grew 36 percent year on year, driven by unit growth and +MSD ASP growth, while Skechers' market share grew to 6 percent. Store checks suggested that the company saw traffic trends that were higher than the industry average.The analyst expects the Q2 results to be the next catalyst for the stock, with the EPS coming in above the consensus forecast, driven by marginally better top line growth and continuing SG&A leverage.