Pandora Shares Soar After Jewelry Maker Raises 2020 Guidance

(Bloomberg) -- Trading in Pandora A/S shares gave the jewelry maker its highest valuation since May 2018, after it raised its guidance for the year citing a spike in online demand.

Copenhagen-based Pandora rose more than 10% after the market opened on Friday. Denmark’s index of benchmark shares was up about 0.9%.

Management opted to publish preliminary third-quarter results late on Thursday, after a “strong” performance improved its prospects for the year. It now expects 2020 Ebit margin to reach at least 17.5%, compared with 16% previously. That’s after online organic growth of 89% in the quarter.

Click here for more details of Pandora’s preliminary results

Pandora seems to be getting “more bang for the buck” from its advertising, and is “catching consumer attention as peers hold back” on spending, Frans Hoyer, an analyst at Handelsbanken, said in a note.

“At a time when peers generally have a firm grip of the purse strings, Pandora says that continued advertising spend has enabled it to better catch consumer attention,” Hoyer said.

Pandora’s share price has soared 85% so far in 2020, as CEO Alexander Lacik succeeded in turning around the company’s fortunes after years of disappointing results. Pandora managed to improve its results despite the ongoing pandemic. On average, about 90% of its stores were open last quarter. By the end of the period, that number had risen to 95%, it said.

“Pandora continues to consider the macroeconomic environment and future Covid-19 development as uncertain and unpredictable,” it said. The latest guidance is based on an assumption that there’ll be no “new material lockdowns,” it said.

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