SGB Executive

Under Armour was downgraded by both Stifel and Goldman Sachs due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Stifel cut its price target to $11 from $16 while Goldman’s target was slashed to $9 from $21.

Top National Stories and the Latest Headlines From SGB Updates across the Active Lifestyle Market during the week of March 23, 2020.

For this latest installment of the Coronavirus Notebook, SGB Executive looks at the myriad contributions from brands across the active-lifestyle marketplace in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including pivoting production lines to make personal protective equipment, providing gear for first responders and making cash donations.

A savvy combination of opportunistic and strategic moves fueled Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc. in the fourth quarter and should bolster the company as the coronavirus crisis escalates. But like most retailers, uncertainty related to the COVID-19 outbreak has tempered the company’s expectations for this quarter and beyond.

On his company’s fourth-quarter conference call, Calvin McDonald, CEO, noted that the “underlying health of our business is strong” as he outlined five levers that will help the chain successfully manage the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Four days after its second annual RIA Kick Show was canceled, the Running Industry Association (RIA) has come out with a COVID-19 prep guide for the run specialty community to basically survive the coronavirus. And Terry Schalow, executive director of the RIA, said the organization has much more coming as the close-knit run specialty community has quickly come together.

Winnebago Industries Inc. began its fiscal third quarter on March 1 with high hopes and enough momentum to fuel a fleet of motorhomes. But like it has for many companies, the coronavirus knocked Winnebago off course. On the fiscal Q2 earnings call with analysts, CEO Mike Happe explained the difficult decision to shutter operations just as spring and the prime RV season kicks off.

Shoe Carnival Inc. wrapped up a strong fourth quarter to mark its 11th consecutive year of comparable-store sales growth. The off-price footwear also stressed it’s financially and operationally prepared to manage any impact from the coronavirus outbreak.

Nike Inc. didn’t escape the fiscal third quarter entirely unscathed, and headwinds remain globally in Q4 and beyond, but the company managed to evade a revenue and earnings plunge thanks to the “playbook” it deployed as the coronavirus spread across China in recent months.

Nike Inc. said a 36 percent hike in global digital growth drove sales and earnings ahead of expectations in the third quarter ended February 28 and helped the brand recapture lost sales due to store closures in China after the coronavirus outbreak. Digital sales grew in excess of 30 percent in all geographies for the Nike Brand as well as for Converse in the quarter.  

Fallout from the coronavirus pandemic continues to rankle the active-lifestyle marketplace. Most retailers have temporarily closed their doors. Sports leagues show no signs of resuming play. And now the Summer Olympics has been postponed until 2021. The ripple effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) is reaching new pockets of the U.S. economy and will linger for months to come.

On a webinar Monday exploring the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the sporting goods industry, Tom Cove, CEO of SFIA, encouragingly said the stimulus bill expected to come out in the coming days is expected to provide relief for small businesses and “pent-up demand” should help the sports industry smartly recover in the back-half of the year. Currently, however, the focus of key industry players to weather the coronavirus is to converse cash.

Mergers and acquisitions are slowing to a crawl due to the coronavirus outbreak, but buyers and sellers can use this time to prepare for the surge of activity that’s sure to occur once business normalcy returns. SGB Executive examines the current M&A landscape and offers tips for navigating either side of the deal.

Gildan Activewear Inc. said it has seen a “significant deterioration” in demand for its products, particularly on the imprintables side where end-users are closely linked to large gathering events. The company is also suspending manufacturing facilities production until mid-April and withdrew its first quarter and full-year 2020 guidance due to uncertainty over the duration of the coronavirus.

The coronavirus has forced many retailers to temporarily close their doors, but Birmingham, AL-based Hibbett Sports Inc. believes its locations are better positioned than big-box competitors and isn’t issuing a companywide shutdown. Hibbett CEO Mike Longo spoke on the fourth-quarter earnings call Friday morning—his first since being named to the top post last December—about the company’s resiliency amid this current crisis.