For footwear players, the time to buy — and sell — could be now. A number of high-profile deals, including Coach’s $574 million Stuart Weitzman buy, New Balance and Berkshire Partners’ $280 million acquisition of Rockport, and Iconix Brand Group’s $37 million investment in Pony, have altered the playing field in the past month. And once the market digests the latest round of earnings reports, more companies could be poised to join the fray. The uptick in M&A activity is due to the solid economy — buoyed by the recent drop in oil prices — and still-plentiful access to equity and debt capital, analysts said. Over the past few years, growth in the footwear market has been relatively stable, though not robust. With that in mind, Steve Marotta, senior research analyst at C.L. King & Associates, predicted that larger, cash-flow-positive footwear companies will seek growth via acquisitions of smaller companies or brands. Companies with revenues of $50 million and above are most attractive to potential buyers, said William Susman, managing director at consulting firm Threadstone LP. Steve Madden has been actively seeking these kinds of buys. Last summer, the brand snapped up Dolce Vita for $60.3 million. On a smaller scale, Madden bought the intellectual-property rights Read More...