Columbia gains, Urban Outfitters and Vipshop lose in Wednesday's session

Citigroup updated the rating of Portland, Oregon-based outdoor company Columbia Sportswear Co. (COLM) from "neutral" to "buy" on Wednesday.

The company stated their reasons for raising its rating on the outdoor apparel, footwear, accessories and equipment designer, marketer and distributor, based on its "proprietary outwear survey, positive industry commentary and likely better traffic trends at key outwear channels."

"Columbia has appreciated +18 percent since mid-October, but only +6 percent year-to-date. With operating margins likely up significantly this year to [around] 9.5 percent, we think management is on the path to returning to mid-teens operating margins, which has not been achieved since 2005," Citigroup said.

Philadelphia-based clothing company Urban Outfitters (URBN) saw its shares fall by nearly 7 percent during the last session. Not too much of a surprise to investors as this was the company's fourth negative revision in the last few weeks.

The stock is now trading below the volatile price range of 29.70 to 32.03 US dollars in the past one-month time frame. Investors will keep an eye on the stock to make sure the recent slump does not continue, which could be the case though, taking earnings into account.

Chinese online flash seller of apparel Vipshop Holdings (VIPS) also experienced a plunge, dipping by as much as 13 percent during the last session after the company gave guidance for a disappointing current quarter.

JG Capital analyst Henry Guo wrote in a research note on Wednesday that "this guidance may prove conservative" and called the sell-off a "buying opportunity."

Though Vipshop's third quarter earnings per share and sales beat analyst expectations, its revenue outlook for the current quarter was merely in line. Revenue surged by 130 percent to 882.6 million US dollars, thus exceeding analyst views of 863.12 million US dollars.

Total operating expenses soared by 148 percent to 205.6 million US dollar as the company invested to expand its warehouses and mobile-user capabilities. Vipshop CFO Donghao Yang stressed top-line growth as the company's top priority and announced further investments. "We're going to reinvest profits for top-line growth," he said.

For the fourth quarter, Vipshop expects revenue of 1.2 billion to $1.22 billion US dollars, up by 84 to 87 percent. Analysts expect 1.21 billion US dollars.