VF shares rise on upgrade

NEW YORK—Shares of VF Corp. rose on Wednesday, after an analyst said the apparel maker has strong brands and operations and upgraded the stock.

Shares rose $4.55, or 5.7 percent, to $84.34. The stock has traded between $63.68 and $89.01 during the past year.

Credit Suisse analyst Omar Saad wrote in a note to investors late Tuesday that he was upgrading the stock to "Outperform" from "Neutral" with a $100 price target.

"While VF's strong brands, best-in-class operations, and channel diversity should allow it to outperform the competition in this recession, the best reason to own VF is for its unrivaled acquisition platform and blossoming international growth," he wrote.

The company reported in July that sales of its outdoor brands and gains from acquisitions fueled second-quarter profit above Wall Street expectations, while sales rose 11 percent despite a difficult environment.

Currently, international sales represent 28 percent of total revenue and that is growing at a high-teens percentage rate, Saad said. The North Face, Vans and Seven for All Mankind brands are all doing well internationally, he added.

Saad said VF, which makes Lee and Wrangler jeans as well as JanSport backpacks and The North Face outdoor gear, is one of the few companies that "consistently executes high-return brand acquisitions," which he expects the Greensboro, N.C.-based company to continue making over the next few years amid a weak consumer spending environment.

"Plus, VF still has huge white spaces in big profitable categories such as athletic, luxury, and international," Saad said.