The footwear name has had a volatile year on the charts
Footwear name Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW) is down 1.5% at $28.87 this afternoon. The shares of the Sperry, Keds, and Merrel parent experienced their fair share of volatility over the past year, surging to a May 10, all-time high of $44.74, before pulling back to a Dec. 20, annual low of $26.42. The security has since bounced off that trough, though the descending 20-day moving average still looms above. Year-to-date, WWW is back below breakeven with a 7.7% deficit.
The brokerage bunch is optimistic towards Wolverine World Wide stock, with five of the seven analysts in coverage calling the equity a "strong buy," while the remaining two say "hold." What's more, the 12-month consensus target price of $42.22 is a 46.3% premium to current levels.
The security could benefit from a shift in the options pits. This is per WWW's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.18, which sits higher than 80% of readings from the past year. In other words, short-term options traders have rarely been more put-biased.
From a fundamental point of view, Wolverine World Wide stock does not offer a great level of security for potential investors. The company's balance sheet holds $1.18 billion in total debt, and just $183.6 million in cash. The footwear name also reported a 21% dip in annual revenues for 2020.
WWW's trailing 12-month revenues increased 28% since 2020, while its price sales ratio of 1.15 seems attractive. The company’s net income has yet to see the strong recovery its revenues have experienced, with its trailing 12-month net income increasing just $49.4 million since 2020.
Nonetheless, WWW boasts a strong forward price-earnings ratio of 12.87, indicating an expected return to profitability, and potentially setting up Wolverine stock as a recovery play for 2022.