Like so many other stocks in a turbulent market, Levi's ($LEVI) have been a little weathered by a rough-and-tumble September - although the stock has bounced back.
However, alternative data paints a mixed picture of the California clothing company - when Levis announces earnings on Tuesday October 8, analysts tracked by Zacks Investment Research are looking for EPS $0.27.
For our first chart, the good news is that Levi job postings are up near all-time highs; but the downside is that they've slipped from where they were at the beginning of the third quarter. From where job postings stood at the end of Q2, until the end of Q3, Levi's saw about 5% fewer job postings. It's not uncommon to see a company, after struggling post-IPO, recalibrate hiring plans - although Levi's reduction in job postings falls far short of its 14% drop from where the stock popped after its March 2019 market debut.
More worrisome than job postings is Levi's social media traffic, which reflects that consumers are spending less time talking about it, and not more. It's not 'Forever 21-bad,' but isn't great for a company that has a ton of brand recognizability and the potential to launch DTC channels, since it doesn't have a huge real estate presence the way so many other major retailers have developed a footprint.
It's still early innings for Levi's, but the storied American brand's latest chapter reflects a legacy company that may have timed its market debut well - and now has to contend with what other tech startups who made spashy IPO debuts are fighting, in a lousy trade environment.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.