Express is a clothing brand headquartered in Ohio, which saw a 900% spike in its share price at the beginning of 2021. Fuelled by many of the same social media-based investors as other ‘meme stocks’ like GameStop, Express has fallen back dramatically from these heights, though still trading well above its previous range.
Originally launched as a venture by Limited Brands in 1980, Express sells men’s and women’s clothing and aims to dress its customers fashionably for ‘any occasion’ while competing aggressively on price. Using a subcontractor model where clothes are manufactured cheaply by non-employees overseas, Express keeps its prices low and offers slimmer sizes, particularly for men, than most US retailers. Express currently runs over 500 stores and factory outlets in the US and Puerto Rico and focuses its advertising spend on social media platforms popular with the youth market.
Express announced plans in 2020 to close over 100 stores and has focused on novel offerings such as ‘clothing rental’ services to encourage a reversal of their flagging fortunes. Towards the end of 2020, the company’s stock was threatened with delisting from the New York Stock Exchange for its persistently low price, a fate it has since escaped due to the upsurge in trading interest fuelled by social media. Even before this, Express had secured emergency funding to survive the closure of stores during the pandemic and saw losses narrow rapidly in 2021. Despite this, Express remains a company which hasn’t seen a profit since the beginning of 2019, though CEO Tim Baxter cites the rapidly growing eCommerce division and impressive year-on-year growth as reasons to be optimistic about the company’s future.
At the time of Express’ IPO in May 2010, shares traded at $17. This had fallen to below $1 by the end of 2020, before rocketing to $9 in January 2021, reflecting the volatile nature of this stock. Despite its volatility, Express has significant institutional ownership, with the hedge fund Contrarius Investment Management and Charles Schwab the largest shareholders.
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Express does not currently pay a dividend.
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