Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. shares are up 1.9% Wednesday after the company’s stock was upgraded to buy from hold at Canaccord Genuity, which believes that company’s strategic turnaround is starting to yield results. The price target was raised to $58 from $43. “After a multi-year stretch of excessive promotions, stale innovation in handbags, and a watch category that disproportionately depressed comps and collapsed earnings before interest and taxes margins, we believe the strategic steps management has recently begun implementing are showing early signs of traction,” Canaccord analysts led by Camilo Lyon wrote in a Wednesday note. Michael Kors has recently taken steps to add embellishment and make other style changes to its merchandise, and has pulled back from department stores. The introduction of the Access smart watch line has also offset the declines in the fashion watch category. Michael Kors shares are up 11.5% for the year so far, and up 34% for the last three months. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF is up 3.2% for the past three months and the S&P 500 index is up 3.3% for the period.
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