Skip to content

Are JD Sports shares still a buy for investors?

Are JD Sports shares still a buy for investors?

From the moment 2019’s starting gun rang out, JD Sports shares have sprinted off into the distance.

Opening at £3.44 – having fallen from an all-time high of £5.19 in mid-September 2018 – the high street retailer has surged to a current trading price of £5.12 , a 51% increase since the start of the year. It also means that a well-received annual update could see it reach a fresh record peak.

The company gifted investors a belated Christmas present on January 14th, with a pretty fantastic trading statement. For the cumulative 48-weeks to January 5th, total sales rose 15%, with like-for-likes climbing ‘more than 5%’, an acceleration of the 3% increase seen at the financial year’s half way point. This included a ‘consistently positive like-for-like performance across Black Friday and the Christmas period’.

Arguably even better was news that gross profit margins were maintained at prior year levels, with JD Sports highlighting its policy ‘not to enter into short-term reactive discounting unnecessarily’, something that hurt other retailers around the holiday season.

The pinnacle of the update? The firm claimed that its full year group pre-tax profit would be at the upper end of the £325 million to £352 million guidance range. At a mid-point of £338.5 million, that’d be a 14.7% improvement on the previous year’s £295 million.

Tuesday’s full year report is also the first proper statement since JD Sports announced it was buying trainer-rival Footasylum for £90.1 million, an acquisition that still requires shareholder approval. An update on this purchase will be very much welcome, specifically what intentions the company has for the brand.

JD Sports shares have a consensus rating of ‘Buy’ alongside an average target price of £5.09.

  • Visit spreadex website

This article is brought to you in association with Spreadex. All opinions expressed in this article are from the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Armchair Trader. You can find out more about Spreadex products and services here, or find more articles from Connor Campbell here.

Share this article

Invest with these platforms

Hargreaves Lansdown

IG

Interactive Brokers

Interactive Investor

Charles Stanley

IG

Interactive Brokers

Charles Stanley

Looking for great investing ideas? Get our free newsletter.
Join our UK news channel on WhatsApp

This article does not constitute investment advice.  Do your own research or consult a professional advisor.

Learn with our free 'How to' Guides

Our latest in-depth company reports

On the podcast

Sign up for great investing stock tips

Thanks to our Site Partners

Our partners are established, regulated businesses and we are grateful for their support.

Aquis
CME Group
FP Markets
Pepperstone
Schroders

abrdn
WisdomTree
ARK
FxPro
CMC Markets
Back To Top