Ryzenberg On: Mr. Kors Goes to Wall Street

New York’s Stock Exchange just got a little glitzier. Legendary American brand Michael Kors occupied the NYSE trading floor Thursday morning and made a strong ca-ching sound — of $20 a share.

The company’s initial public offering raised $944 million in Hong Kong on Wednesday, valuing the company at $3.8B, according to the Financial Times. In fact, the opening surpassed analysts expectations and even closed the day at $24.20, which values the company at $4.62B.

Kors (NYSE: KORS.N) had the biggest opening public offering in the history of US fashion; it even beat Ralph Lauren’s astounding initial IPO of $882M in 1997. The newlywed, Project Runway judge and designer is selling 5.6 million shares and will pocket a mere $116M. Now that’s some serious shekels!

So here is the deal. This is absolutely a sign that the economy is slowly rebounding. Traders and analysts see the brand’s potential and the strong company as a reliable and  good buy. This shows how despite the current crisis, luxury brands, although not fully unaffected, are seeing signs of improvement. This year alone, Prada filed for an IPO in Hong Kong for $2.1B back in March and Salvatore Ferragamo also entered the trading circuit. 

Currently, there are 169 Michael Kors retail stores in the US and 34 in Europe and Asia. They all showcase apparel, jewelry, accessories, footwear and watches. The company hopes to double its stores worldwide. 

Now I guess 2011 is the year of Michael Kors! Mazal Tov and looking forward to celebrating and documenting more milestones.

This leaves me wondering, who will be the next to jump on the bull? DVF perhaps.

Ryzenberg On, is Signing Off

PHOTO: Reuters