“Although shares of Fossil Group are trading at their highest point since the spring on a strong earnings report, the fashion accessories maker and retailer still faces tough challenges — including competition from smartwatches and the upcoming Apple Watch,” Vance Cariaga reports for Investor’s Business Daily.
“On Wednesday, Fossil Group (NASDAQ:FOSL) shares rose 8% to 112.48 — their highest close since April — a day after the company beat Q3 sales and earnings estimates and announced that it had renewed its licensing agreement with Michael Kors for 10 years,” Cariaga reports. “In a note released Wednesday, Sterne Agee analyst Ike Boruchow raised his fourth-quarter, full-year 2014 and full-year 2015 EPS estimates on Fossil and also raised his 12-month price target on the stock to 106 from 105. At the same time, Boruchow said that there are still reasons to remain cautious on the stock.”
“According to news reports, the iPhone and iPad maker has put in orders for 30 million to 40 million chips to power its new watch, which is due to launch next year,” Cariaga reports. “In his Thursday report, Boruchow said that the Apple Watch ‘presents a meaningful competitive threat.’
with Milanese Loop
Cariaga reports, “‘While the threat to traditional watch companies from smartwatches has been debated for quite some time, it has generally been somewhat of a black box,’ Boruchow said. ‘With Apple’s recent announcement of the Apple Watch, we believe the potential threat is becoming increasingly clear. Launching in early 2015, with an initial price point of $349, the Apple Watch could take meaningful share in the fashion watch market.’ Fossil shares were down 2% to 110.36 in early trading on the stock market today.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Fossil is soon to discover just how aptly they’re named.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David E.” for the heads up.]
They will be Fossilized!
Jurassic Park.
Still not feeling it.
I could be wrong, but think it could be a dud. I cannot see paying hundreds of dollars for something on my wrist that duplicates- poorly- what is already on my phone.
Totally agree.
My iPhone is my watch without a wrist band.
If I want to wear it, many cases and options available.
When it becomes the Dick Tracy Facetime wrist phone, hmmm … will have to take another look.
Agree there. Decades ago I wrote about a widget called a ‘Risto’ which was essentially a Dick Tracy Plus, not a less useful addition to something already in my pocket.
Also, the Watch will have to be shockproof and waterproof to earn a place on my maybe list.
And as for having to recharge yet another thing overnight…
Thanks for reminding me about the DAILY DRAIN of electricity. Why charge two devices a day? Double shock on my utility bill. Battery in my fossil lasts for years.
I want to thank MDN for including a relevant photo for this story. Need more of that.
Fossil makes extremely good leather goods. They’ll adapt. I love my Fossil wallet and my wife’s purse is of the utmost quality for the price.
Perhaps they will start making straps for the Apple Watch. I’m only partially joking.
Fossil is a great watch in so many great styles for the price.
Big fan for decades. Fossilized? Seriously?
I’m wearing one now while typing this post on an iPhone.
Give it up, for what?
As a watch enthusiast, the Apple Watch doesn’t entice me as a watch replacement. It’s an extension of my phone and is appealing because of the technology. I imagine wearing Apple Watch on my left wrist and a traditional watch on my right. (because I’m left handed, this is what I do) I don’t think Fossil is in too much trouble because people are always going to want genuine quartz/automatic movements.
Michael Kors, seriously? Fossil’s never had any sense of style, but aligning with that cheap Halston knockoff certainly won’t help their case.
And here’s where MDN’s take drifts into simply absurd fanboyism. Fossil will be fine. All watch manufacturers will be fine. This isn’t Apple releasing the best product into an existing, wide marketplace (iPhone) or creating a whole new, wide marketplace (iPad). It’s Apple releasing the best product into a niche category of a marketplace – smartwatches. Plenty of people don’t need a smartwatch at all (if you’re not the sort who has all their notifications on and can tolerate not looking at your phone 24/7, hey – you don’t need a smartwatch), or at least don’t need *most* of what one does (I have an Up 24 fitness tracker – it’s small, comfortable, has functionality outside its core purpose such as silent alarms, lasts a whopping 2 weeks on a charge and doesn’t have a watch face so I can wear my proper watch without looking like a complete tool who wears 2 watches).
The Apple watch will sell loads, it’ll rule the smartwatch arena, but will watch makers really worry? Perhaps when smartwatches hit week to month battery life there’ll be a real threat. But my current watch tells me the time and date, looks lovely, and lasts for years. As I have a 64-bit always-connected computer in my pocket and don’t get bombarded with texts, that’s as smart as I’m likely ever going to need it to be.
Fossil is in no real danger. Not everyone will want an Apple Watch. There are still a lot of people who only want a timepiece on their wrist. It seems to me that we’re already inundated with notifications, so if I end up buying an Apple Watch, I will likely disable some of the notifications that it provides. What I think would be awesome is if Apple added a new feature to iOS and OS X that would recognize when an iPhone, Mac, and iPad are all within close proximity, and allow us to choose only one device that gives us notifications for emails, texts/iMessages, etc. It’s really annoying to get two or three notifications every time something happens. It seems to me that the Apple Watch will only add to that annoyance.
I already have a beautiful timepiece. It’s my iPhone 6 and its a pleasure to have to look at it whenever I need to know the time.
I don’t see much comparison between a relatively inexpensive but quality watch and an expensive computer device. They are two different things with different functions. I can’t see wearing an Apple Watch to do outside work or any sort of craft work. I don’t know that I would wear it out to a club. I have several Fossil watches. They were very affordable and offer me a choice of practicality and style to match my activity. Most likely after I have an Apple Watch I will buy more Fossils if they appeal to me. They are dependable timepieces. They just tell the time, which would not be in the top 40 buying arguments for Apple’s device.
It hardly seems that for Apple to be successful every other company has to suffer. MDN does seem a little be hopped on KoolAid sometimes.