By Chelsey Dulaney and Nick Kostov
The pandemic luxury boom may be winding down, but it hasn't turned to a bust just yet.
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton--the world's largest luxury-goods company--reported above-forecast sales for 2023 from 2022.
Shares of LVMH jumped about 10% on Friday after the results, adding the equivalent of around $39 billion to the company's market value.
Other European luxury fashion and beverage stocks also surged:
LVMH said growth was helped by an improvement in U.S. sales and an easier comparison with a year earlier, when Covid-19 cases swept over China.
Barclays upgraded European luxury stocks to overweight early Friday.
"We see the global diversification of luxury goods companies, as well as their higher exposure to the U.S., as a good balance against their China exposure," equity strategists led by Emmanuel Cau said.
Investors had worried about how the luxury sector would fare as global economic growth softens and China continues to struggle.
LVMH lost its spot as the largest public company in Europe in the fall to Novo Nordisk, the Danish maker of the Ozempic weight-loss and diabetes drug .
LVMH's results are likely to tame investor concerns, said analysts at Citi. "2024 could be a smooth rather than difficult year of normalisation for LVMH," they wrote.
NOTE: In-line links reference additional content of interest chosen by the WSJ news team. This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 26, 2024 06:33 ET (11:33 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments