Under Armour's CFO Swap Isn't Making Piper Jaffray Buy In...Yet

• Under Armour Inc UA shares have appreciated 18.38 percent year to date, rising close to their 52 week high on September 17, at $104.10.
• Piper Jaffray’s Erinn E. Murphy has reiterated a Neutral rating on the company, with a price target of $88.
• The company has announced that the former CFO of PetSmart, Inc. PETM would be Under Armor’s next CFO, effective January 19, 2016.

According to the Piper Jaffray report, “Management believes he is a good cultural fit and has a solid background as a public-company CFO in the consumer space.” There will be about a month of overlap between the new CFO joining and the current CFO Brad Dickerson leaving.

Analyst Erinn Murphy believes that Mr. Molloy would be good fit, given that he has “an athletic aptitude and was a Navy fighter pilot for 10 years.”

Although the announcement of the new CFO lays one concern to rest, the current trends still appear to be sluggish, partly driven by the warm weather and partly due to higher inventory in the channel.

In addition, although Mr. Molloy has a strong resume and experience as the CFO of a public company, Murphy pointed out that “he does not have apparel or footwear expertise nor does he have meaningful experience with high-growth names.”

Apart from the transition of the CFO, Murphy expects to see a few more departures at the higher level and inter-company reassignments at Under Armor.