In the second issue of Equity Ideas, I looked deeper at Deckers Brands $DECK. The owner of niche footwear brand HOKA. HOKAs' revenue is up 3000% since FY14, going from ~$30M to roughly $900M today. That's a 30x increase, or 6x since 2018, in a very competitive category.

Deckers' history is fascinating due to their strong turnaround after 2017. In 2017, an activist hedge fund attacked Deckers, but the management defeated the activist with its initiatives.

Management initiatives called for a long-term target to reach $2 billion in revenues, increase the operating margin to +13% and improve the return on invested capital above 20% by FY 2020. All of which they delivered ahead of time in FY 2019. Since the accomplishment in FY19, the company has continued to improve: the operating margin increased by ~200 basis points and maintaining a healthy revenue growth with a return on invested capital well above 20%.

The company acquired HOKA ONE ONE (pronounced "Ho-Kah Own-ay Own-ay") in 2013. This is the company's most lucrative bet on weird. You can read more of HOKA's promising future here.