Finance

Victoria’s Secret fashion show illustrates brand out of touch, analyst

Published

6 years ago

November 6, 2018

Ethel Jiang

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2015 A Victoria’s Secret model.Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Victoria’s Secret’s annual fashion show is scheduled for Thursday in New York and will be on TV in December.
But Jefferies analysts said the show won’t have much of an audience.
“VS pricing power has been permanently impaired,” said Jefferies analyst Randal Konik, a long-time bear on Victoria’s Secret and its owner L Brands.
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Victoria’s Secret upcoming fashion show will be a reminder of how unpopular the brand is, Jefferies says.

The lingerie retailer’s annual fashion show is set for Thursday in New York, where the show firstly started in 1995. Fashion lovers around the world can watch Victoria’s Secret Angels on TV in December. But Jefferies analysts said the show won’t have much of an audience.

“VS’ fashion show illustrates how out of touch the brand still is,” Jefferies analyst Randal Konik, a long-time bear on Victoria’s Secret and its parent company L Brands, said in a note sent out to clients on Tuesday.

“With TV ratings that have been in free fall for years and a consumer that no longer resonates with ‘supermodels’ we question why the company continues to hold the show. We expect ratings to continue their decline this year and the VS brand to lose mindshare.”

By Konik’s track of data, Victoria’s Secret, together with its Pink brand, is selling cheaper and cheaper bras and panties yet the consumer still isn’t responding.

“VS pricing power has been permanently impaired,” Konik said. “PINK is a fad and as it unwinds there will be severe margin and cash-flow implications as a result.”

Without fixing Victoria Secret’s problem, its owner L Brands’ other strategies are useless, according to Konik. For example, L Brands announced in September plans to shut down Henri Bendel in January to “increase shareholder value.”

But Konik said the closure of Henri Bendel doesn’t matter because the real issues are too many stores across Victoria Secret’s, a broken Victoria Secret’s brand, and a Pink business that is about to go into free fall.

Konik has a price target of $20 on L Brands — 41% below where shares are currently trading.

L Brands shares was down 43% this year.