By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com -- Gap rose almost 7% on the possibilities for its athleisure smash hit brand Athleta.
A sustained rally in shares of rival Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ:LULU) could bring attention to Athleta, The Fly reported analysts at Gordon Haskett as saying. The "poor man's" Lululemon could be worth some $5 billion, the analysts wrote in a note.
Lululemon is trading at an all-time high, up 62% since the start of 2020. The yoga pant maker has a market cap of more than $50 billion to Gap's $5.7 billion. Lululemon reported earnings per share of 22 cents in June, which compares to Gap's loss per share of $2.51.
Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) shares are down 12% so far this year.
North Face owner VC Corp. may be in the running for a piece of Gap, notably Athleta, the analysts said, noting some interesting private flight data they tracked. A jet traceable to VC Corp. "has been seen making trips to Oakland this summer and a Challenger 604 owned by GPS made a trip to Denver on Friday," the analysts said.
Gap is headquartered in San Francisco and VC Corp. in Denver.
Athleta sales dropped 8% in the fiscal first quarter of 2020, compared to flagship brand Gap, which was down 50%. Lululemon reported a 17% decline in revenue for its fiscal first quarter.