In a year of lockdowns and falling consumer spending, the top spot in the world's best-performing national market has been taken, surprisingly, by a Danish jewellery maker and retailer.[LONDON] In a year of lockdowns and falling consumer spending, the top spot in the world's best-performing national market has been taken, surprisingly, by a Danish jewellery maker and retailer.
Shares of Pandora have jumped 64 per cent this year, heading the OMX Copenhagen 20 and 25, which lead country indexes globally in the period. The advance comes as short interest in the stock, which was the most targeted in the Stoxx 600 Personal & Household Goods Index before the pandemic, dropped to less than 2 per cent of shares outstanding, from about 12 per cent in February, according to data compiled by IHS Markit.
"Hedge funds started leaving when Pandora showed signs that growth was coming back and it has had a ketchup bottle effect on the stock," said Per Fogh, an analyst at Sydbank."The short sellers have been out closing their positions and combined with the positive sentiment on growth, that has given the stock a big boost." Viking Global Investors and WorldQuant LLC are among hedge funds that have reduced their short positions in Pandora to below the 0.
Pandora hasn't been immune to the pandemic's impact on sales, but investors have become more optimistic on the brand's recovery prospects, which started to gain traction before lockdowns began. The company sold shares earlier this year to shore up its balance sheet, with Danish state-controlled fund ATP snapping up stock in the private placement.
"The company has been through a turnaround process and before the global lockdowns set in, we saw clear signs that the efforts are working," said Claus Wiinblad, head of equities at ATP, which holds a 3.1 per cent stake in the jewellery maker."The company was transparent about the various scenarios it might face and set up a plan that would ensure sufficient liquidity even if the pandemic developed in the most negative way.
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