Crocs made its largest acquisition to date last week when it inked a deal to acquire the privately-owned footwear brand Hey Dude.
The deal is valued at $2.5 billion and expected to close in Q1 of 2022. While Hey Dude is privately owned, Crocs pointed out the company’s impressive growth in revenue and profits in recent years. 43% of Hey Dude’s sales are currently online and the brand projects $570 million in revenue in 2021.
Crocs is confident that Hey Dude will help contribute to its recent revenue growth and align with its previously stated goal to help Crocs achieve $5 billion in sales by 2026. Crocs plans to make Hey Dude a $1 billion brand by 2024.
While executives seemed confident in achieving these goals, investors initially appeared more hesitant. In the wake of the announcement on Thursday, shares of Crocs dropped close to 12%, suggesting concern and uneasiness.
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However, some analysts eased investor fear and projected strong results from the acquisition.
Williams Trading analyst Sam Poser said in a recent note that despite the reactive stock drop, the deal “will prove very accretive” to Crocs. He attributed the initial stock drop to a general investor unawareness for the Hey Dude Brand, which he said has grown revenue at a 20% rate over the last few years and is still gaining momentum.
“Retailers are more knowledgeable of trends than the very large majority of the investment community is,” Poser wrote. “Crocs trends remain strong, and management remains confident that sales will reach $5 billion by 2026.”
Baird analyst Jonathan Komp also pointed out Hey Dude’s trajectory of rapid growth, highlighting how the company is estimated to have grown revenue twofold in 2021, despite supply chain issues. The brand is projected to hit $700 to $750 million in revenue in 2022.
Crocs acquired Jibbitz, the company that makes accessories for the clogs, in 2006. Its most recent acquisition initiates the company’s transition from single-brand to multi-brand. Once under the Crocs banner, Hey Dude will still operate independently with Hey Dude founder Alessandro Rosano as strategic advisor and creative director. Former CCM Hockey CEO Rick Blackshaw has been tapped as Hey Dude’s new EVP and brand president.
“In upcoming quarters, we are optimistic that Crocs can prove continued strong execution as the company has as a mono-brand operator, which should reinforce investor confidence in the growth outlook and support higher valuation over time,” Komp wrote.
