Ride Inc. Up 39%; Olympic Snowboarding Coverage
Cited
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Ride Inc.'s (RIDE) shares rose as much as
70% Monday in a flurry of excitement over the debut of snowboarding as
an Olympic medal sport over the weekend, analysts said.
Robert Marvin, an analyst at Seidler Cos., said Ride's shares are up
because snowboarding has received Olympic coverage, which seems to
have validated the sport.
Ride, based in Preston, Wash., makes snowboards and related
accessories.
Peter S. Jacobs, an analyst at Ragen MacKenzie, said, "I wouldn't be
surprised to see the stock come in a little once the excitement from the
Olympics subsides."
Jacobs, who rates the stock at accumulate, said there is a global interest in
the sport, and retail sales and participation are growing, with more than
25% of the lift tickets sold in North America being purchased by
snowboarders.
Jacobs also noted that Morrow Snowboards Inc. (MRRW) is Ride's only
publicly traded peer in the snowboard industry.
Consolidation has been a factor in the industry's long-term growth potential,
Jacobs said. When the sport first became popular, "there were a lot people
making snowboards out of their parents' garages."
"I'd say there were over 200 snowboard makers and marketers two years
ago," Jacobs said. "Retailers couldn't absorb the number of boards that
came into the wholesale market."
Jacobs said he expects to see the number of snowboard manufacturers to
trickle down to between five and 10 companies making up 70-80% of the
industry in the next couple of years.
"These things will play out and eventually the strong will survive. I think
both Ride and Morrow will survive," Jacobs said.
Ride was recently trading at 3 1/8, up 15/16, or 42.9%, on Nasdaq
volume of 913,500, more than 14 times the average daily volume of
63,250. The shares reached as high as 3 23/32 earlier.
Morrow Snowboards was up 3/16, or 4.9%, to 4 on Nasdaq volume of
131,100, compared with average volume of 32,700. Earlier, Morrow's
shares traded as high as 4 1/2.
- Nicole Ridgway; 201-938-5388 |
