Lululemon stock continues to underperform the broader market as the company’s and industry’s challenges continue. LULU is down by 44% this year and by 71% in the last five years, a dramatic reversal for a company that was once one of the most popular among retail and institutional investors. 

LULU’s retreat has coincided with that of other top companies in the industry. Nike stockhas dropped by 50% in the last 12 months and by 77% in the last five. In Germany, Adidas has fallen by 50% in the last five years, while On Holding is down by 33% in the same period. 

Lululemon Athletica is facing pressure in key areas

Lululemon, a company whose business boomed during the pandemic, has done well in the past few years as its growth trajectory has stalled. 

It has moved from having double-digit growth to single digits. In 2023, the company’s revenue growth was nearly 30%, a figure that dropped to 4.8% last year.

The most recent results showed that its net revenue rose by just 4% in the first quarter to $2.5 billion or 2% on a constant-dollar basis. 

Most notably, its key markets are no longer doing well. Its Americas revenue dropped by 3%, a notable development since it is its most profitable. 

Its international segment’s revenue jumped by 22% in the quarter, with its comparable sales rising by 13%. While these growth metrics are good, they are much lower than where they were a few quarters ago. Mainland China’s revenue has also slowed drastically in the past few months.

The company’s profits have also plunged. Its net income dropped to $195 million in the first quarter from $314 million in the same period last year. 

Lululemon’s growth is expected to be minimal in the coming years. The average estimate among analysts is that its second-quarter revenue will be $2.46 billion, down by 2.55% from a year earlier. For the year, its revenue is expected to drop by 0.54% to $11.04 billion, followed by a modest growth next year to $11.34 billion.

Therefore, the company’s valuation has become a bargain. Its forward price-to-earnings ratio dropped to 10.5, lower than the consumer discretionary median of 17, and the five-year average of 28. Despite its cheap valuation, there is a possibility that it may be a value trap. Unless the company demonstrates a clear turnaround strategy, the stock will likely continue falling.

Lululemon stock technical analysis

LULU stock chart | Source: TradingView

The weekly chart shows that the LULU stock has been in a strong sell-off for a while. It has slumped below the important support level of $159, its lowest level in September and November last year.

Lululemon stock has slumped below the 50-week Exponential Moving Average (EMA), a sign that bears remain in control. The stock has formed a bearish flag pattern and is now in the horizontal channel. 

Therefore, the stock will likely continue falling, potentially to the key support level of $100. A move below that support will point to further downside towards $80.

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For decades, memory chips have been Wall Street’s quintessential boom-and-bust trade. Producers chase demand spikes with reflexive expansion, then supply floods the market, and prices collapse.

The artificial intelligence (AI) buildup is now testing that old playbook, as hyperscale data centers absorb every gigabyte of DRAM and NAND storage they can secure.

Famed investor Jim Cramer is making a structural case for memory stocks that have already staged an extraordinary rally, arguing investors haven’t missed the trade.

Supply bottlenecks, already flagged by tech executives as a core constraint on data-center expansion, are colliding with a new discipline among the chipmakers themselves.

Together – he argues – those two forces make the following 4 memory stocks attractive to buy into recent strength.   

SanDisk (SNDK)

SanDisk SNDK stock has already recorded over 7x year-to-date gains – yet, it has $15.5 billion left on the share buyback authorization.

That’s a lot of cash going back to shareholders instead of into uncommitted new factories.

Historically, triple-digit surges in memory stocks marked a peak, not a starting point; management teams rushed to build speculative capacity that eventually flooded the market.

But this time is different, said Jim Cramer in a recent segment of Mad Money. Manufacturing ramp-up in 2026 is tied to multiyear agreements rather than optimistic guesswork.

Sure, a sharp pullback in cloud spending could still revive old cyclical pressures – but for now, the absence of speculative inventory in the channel suggests SNDK buybacks are backed by durable pricing, not a rally running out of room.

Seagate (STX)

A massive $5 billion buyback program authorized last year is still being worked through by Nasdaq-listed Seagate Technology, even as its shares have more than tripled year-to-date.

That combination, an aggressive repurchase plan alongside a red-hot stock, isn’t what past memory cycles looked like.

Rather than expanding manufacturing lines to chase short-term price spikes, the company has tied incremental output directly to locked-in, multiyear customer commitments.

In Cramer’s assessment, that restraint changes the math: it prevents the kind of oversupply that has wrecked recoveries before. Storage suppliers are prioritizing earnings per share over volume.

As long as hyperscalers keep spending at their current pace, STX’s approach to cash offers “real” protection against swings that have defined this business for decades.

Micron (MU)

Cramer’s “Investing Club”  has recently initiated a position in Micron stock – which has already soared over 250% this year.

Importantly, the former hedge fund manager believes MU could roughly double again if artificial intelligence hardware demand and long-term supply contracts hold, and there is now an unexpected slowdown in data-center spending.

The bullish call rests on one key assumption – memory stays a “genuine” bottleneck for advanced computing clusters. If it does, the biggest suppliers keep real pricing power.

Much like its peers, Micron is also anchoring factory utilization to multiyear commitments rather than short-term signals, limiting margin compression that plagued chipmakers during past downcycles.

The risk is real; a stall in hyperscale spending will change the calculus fast. But absent that, MU’s discipline should turn today’s pricing into years of cash generation, not a one-time spike.

Western Digital (WDC)

Western Digital’s board has just added to its buyback plan as well. Shares have more than tripled year-to-date, and the company authorized another$4 billion in repurchases earlier this year.

Again, pairing bigger cash returns with expanding margins marks a real break from prior cycles – when windfall profits got plowed into speculative new plants.

Sending cash to shareholders instead of chasing market share fits a sector-wide pattern: discipline over expansion.

For WDC shares as well, an abrupt slowdown in data-center buildouts remains a latent risk for the storage supply chain. And Cramer doesn’t dismiss it; he just doesn’t see it as immediate.

With enterprise demand locked in and spending held in check across the industry, Western Digital looks positioned to hold its valuation without the oversupply traps that have caught this sector before.

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The Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF (VGLT) and the iShares 20+ Year Bond ETF (TLT) continued their strong downward trend. TLT dropped to $81.35 and is nearing its all-time low of $80.67. It has dropped by over 55% from its highest point this year. Similarly, the VGLT ETF fell to $52, a few points above its record low of $51.8.

VGLT and TLT are falling as US 30-year yields jump

There are concerns about the rising US bond yields as the country’s public debt soar. Data shows that the 30-year Treasury yield jumped to 5.32% on Tuesday, its highest level since June 2007, and much higher than the 2010 low of 0.709. 

This simply means that the cost the US is paying to its bondholders has continued rising, a trend that may continue now that the US public debt is soaring. Data compiled by the Federal Reserve shows that the debt jumped to over $39 trillion in the first quarter, and the estimate is that it will cross the $40 trillion mark in the next few weeks.

Worse, there are signs that this crisis will continue in the foreseeable future as the US budget deficit continues to widen, especially if President Donald Trump has his way. For example, he has proposed boosting the annual defense spending plan to $1.5 trillion. Some of these funds will go towards his vanity projects, including the new Trump Class ships. 

Worse, there are signs that Japan, the biggest holder of US debt, has continued to pare back its holdings. It now holds $1.111 trillion in debt, down sharply from $1.22 trillion where it started the year. This selling may continue as the Japanese yen continues weakening. 

Despite the ongoing risks, investors have continued to pile their funds into the TLT and VGLT ETFs. Data shows that the VGLT ETF has had over $233 million in inflows in the last month, bringing its total assets to $10.3billion. In total, its net inflows this year was $806 million.

The TLT ETF has also had over $4.53 billion inflows in the last month, with the net inflows year-to-date being $543 million. It now has over $45 billion in assets. 

Soaring long-term bond yields are usually bearish for the TLT and VGLT ETFs because prices move inversely to yields.

TLT ETF technical analysis

TLT chart | Source: TradingView

The weekly chart shows that the TLT ETF has been in a strong sell-off in the past few months. It has just crossed the important support level of $81, the lower side of the descending triangle pattern. Also, the fund has remained below the 50-week moving average, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has dropped below the neutral level of 50.

Therefore, the fund will likely continue falling as bond yields continue rising. If this happens, the next key level to watch will being at $50.

VGLT ETF technical analysis

VGLT ETF chart | Source: TradingView

The weekly chart shows that the VGLT ETF has been in a strong downward trend and is now hovering at its all-time low. It has already dropped below the important support level of $53, the lower side of the descending triangle pattern. 

VGLT remains below the Ichimoku cloud, while the RSI indicator continued falling. As such, the price will continue falling, potentially to $45.

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Klarna KLAR delivered a stronger-than-expected second quarter, but investors looked beyond the Swedish buy now, pay later company’s latest results after it issued a significantly weaker outlook for the rest of the year.

Shares fell nearly 21% in premarket trading on Tuesday, adding to a decline of more than 31% so far this year.

The sell-off came despite Klarna reporting its first quarterly profit on the bottom line in the period and revenue that comfortably exceeded Wall Street expectations.

Klarna reported a net profit of $9 million for the April-June quarter, compared with a loss of $53 million a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a net loss of $17.4 million.

Revenue increased 27% year over year to $1 billion, beating the $993.8 million consensus estimate.

Adjusted operating income more than tripled to $91 million from $29 million.

The results nevertheless failed to reassure investors because of the company’s expectations for the coming quarter and full year.

Third-quarter guidance raises concerns

Klarna expects third-quarter revenue of between $940 million and $980 million, with the midpoint of $960 million significantly below the $1.1 billion consensus compiled by Visible Alpha.

The company’s adjusted operating income forecast of $5 million to $15 million, with a midpoint of $10 million, was also well below the $85.2 million Visible Alpha consensus.

Klarna expects third-quarter gross merchandise volume, or GMV, of $35 billion to $36 billion, compared with the $39 billion analyst consensus.

Transaction margin dollars are expected to come in between $340 million and $360 million.

The guidance points to a sharp sequential slowdown and suggests the company faces a more difficult second half than investors had anticipated.

Morgan Stanley had raised its Klarna price target to $21 from $18 while retaining an Equal Weight rating ahead of the results.

But the cautious stance offered little support after the company lowered its forecasts.

Options markets had implied a roughly 15% move around the earnings release.

Klarna has exceeded that expected range during each of its previous two earnings announcements, with the stock falling more than anticipated on both occasions.

Currency and Germany weigh on 2026 outlook

Klarna also reduced its full-year revenue forecast to between $4.1 billion and $4.2 billion.

The midpoint of $4.1 billion was well below the $4.4 billion analyst consensus.

The company cited approximately $600 million in currency translation headwinds as one of the factors behind the weaker outlook.

Klarna also took a more cautious view of volumes in Germany, its largest market by volume.

That prompted the company to reduce its full-year GMV forecast to $149 billion to $151 billion, from its previous expectation of more than $155 billion.

The downgrade highlights the challenge Klarna faces in balancing rapid growth in the US with softer trends in some of its more established markets.

US remains a key growth engine

The US business continued to provide a bright spot during the quarter.

Klarna’s total GMV rose 18% year over year to $36.6 billion, while US GMV increased 27%.

The company also reported a 42% increase in transaction margin dollars to $446 million, a key metric that management uses to measure the economics of its business.

Transaction margin dollars represented 42.8% of revenue, allowing Klarna to grow the measure considerably faster than both revenue and GMV.

The company raised its full-year transaction margin dollar guidance to between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion, equivalent to approximately 1.09% of GMV, from its previous expectation of more than 1.04%.

Full-year adjusted operating income guidance remained largely unchanged at $280 million to $300 million.

“Over 120 million consumers now use Klarna, and each is using it for more of their everyday spend — revenue per active consumer grew 24%,” CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski said.

“That deepening engagement is why transaction margin dollars grew 42%, well ahead of revenue and volume.”

Investors had expected more from the stock

Klarna’s shares had shown some signs of recovery before Tuesday’s sell-off.

The stock closed at $19.51 on Monday and had gained about 4% over the previous month.

Analysts had also become somewhat more optimistic about the company. Goldman Sachs, UBS and JPMorgan had raised their price targets to $25, $23 and $22, respectively, in recent weeks.

But the lower guidance has put that optimism under pressure.

Klarna made its Wall Street debut in 2025 at a valuation of roughly $15 billion, joining a wave of technology and fintech listings.

Since then, investors have had to assess whether the company can convert its expanding customer and merchant base into consistently stronger profits.

Merchant growth and leadership changes

Klarna’s merchant base continued to expand rapidly, rising 54% year over year to more than 1.2 million.

The company is also preparing for changes in its senior leadership.

Chief Financial Officer Niclas Neglén and Chief Marketing Officer David Sandström are expected to transition out of their current roles in early 2027 after six and nine years at Klarna, respectively.

Klarna has begun searching for a New York-based CFO, while Neglén will continue leading the finance organization and investor engagement through the transition.

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US stocks opened lower on Tuesday as stalled negotiations between the US and Iran pushed oil prices higher and government bond yields remained elevated.

Rising Treasury yields also weighed on technology and semiconductor stocks, with investors assessing the potential impact of persistent inflation and higher borrowing costs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 153 points.

The S&P 500 was down 0.56% while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.24%.

Oil prices rise as US-Iran talks stall

Crude prices continued to climb as hopes for a lasting peace agreement between Washington and Tehran diminished.

US crude rose 0.93% on Tuesday to trade near $85 a barrel, while Brent futures gained 0.46% at around three-week highs.

The gains followed a rise in oil prices during the previous session, adding to concerns that elevated energy costs could keep inflation pressures persistent.

Iran could shift to a “fully offensive” military posture if negotiations with the US fail, according to a senior Iranian official cited by Reuters. Washington has also ruled out extending a temporary ceasefire agreement that expired on August 17.

The renewed uncertainty has increased concerns about energy supplies and contributed to the rise in Treasury yields.

Investors are also monitoring comments from President Donald Trump, who said Monday that the US would attack Oman if it interfered with its objectives.

The developments come as markets remain sensitive to the relationship between energy prices and inflation, particularly as traders continue to assess the Federal Reserve’s next policy moves.

Treasury yields weigh on technology stocks

The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose more than one basis point to 5.323%, reaching levels not seen since 2007.

The 10-year Treasury yield also remained near its highest level since January 2025.

Higher yields can weigh on growth stocks by increasing borrowing costs and reducing the present value of future earnings. Technology stocks were therefore among the major areas of weakness in premarket trading.

Tesla and Nvidia each fell more than 1%, while semiconductor companies including Micron Technology, Marvell Technology, Advanced Micro Devices and Intel declined between 3% and 5%.

Storage companies SanDisk, Western Digital and Seagate Technology fell more than 5% each.

The CBOE Volatility Index rose to its highest level in roughly two weeks, signaling increased investor caution.

The pressure on technology stocks comes after strong earnings across several sectors, including AI-related companies, helped lift the S&P 500 and Dow to record highs earlier this month.

Nvidia’s upcoming earnings report next week could provide another test for investor confidence in the AI trade.

Money-market data showed traders still saw a 96% probability of a 25-basis-point rate hike this year, although expectations for a September increase declined following softer inflation data last week.

Investors will look to the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting, due Wednesday, for further clues on monetary policy.

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