'The right and wrong way' of going after heritage, Bernstein starts Ferragamo and Cucinelli

Brunello Cucinelli SpA

16/07/2025 14:30

** Bernstein starts coverage of Italian luxury groups Salvatore Ferragamo SFER.MI and Brunello Cucinelli BCU.MI with "underperform" and "market-perform" ratings, respectively

** "The wrong way to sell heritage," Bernstein says on Ferragamo, seeing damage to its brand equity due to a disconnect between heritage, current product and communications

** "Not only is Ferragamo unable to connect to its heritage – it is also unable to find a proper position in a world that has gone informal," it says

** This, in turn, causes low retail store productivity (2.8 million euros per store) and high inventories (30% of sales), Bernstein says

** Ferragamo's shares are down 2% at 1316 GMT, paring losses after falling as much as 5% earlier in the session, lowest in more than two weeks; Cucinelli is up 0.8%

** On the other hand, Bernstein is more confident on Cucinelli's "right way to build heritage"

** The broker says the brand's targeted high-end focus gives it pricing power despite little marketing means while also mostly insulating it from economic risks

** "At Cucinelli you are not buying products, you are buying a place in a community centered around Solomeo, cashmere and Humanistic Capitalism," Bernstein says​

 (Reporting by Gaia Neiman)

 ((Gaia.neiman@thomsonreuters.com))