We are reiterating our Buy rating, $4 price target and projections for Vera Bradley after visiting stores in Connecticut and Long Island. We believe the company has continued to shift and experiment with the overall mix, product and pricing at both the main line and outlet stores to drive higher returns and shift the overall customer mix to a younger base. Key pieces of our tours included the rollout of exciting new summer collections (with a shout out to core patterns [bees] and new looks), the return of key silhouettes and the launch of a Star War driven collection ahead of the key May 4th date (and Mother's Day). Further, management continues to experiment with the pricing regimen to maximize overall results with a consumer worried over tariffs and the economy. As such, and with the vast majority of the company's production outside of China, we believe current near historic lows for VRA reflect a more general market malaise versus the evolving results at the company; we reiterate our Buy rating and $4 price target for VRA.
