SGB Executive Sports & Fitness

Aisle Talk, Week Of September 18
Top headlines from the active lifestyle industry you may have missed this week.

Consumer Direct Offense Gets Heavy Play At Nike’s Annual Meeting
At Nike’s 37th annual meeting held at its Beaverton headquarters, Nike officials discussed the company’s liberal leanings, its climate change actions and new NBA partnership. But most of the time was spent talking up its “Consumer Direct Offense” initiative.

Susquehanna Upgrades Hibbett Sports On Hurricane Benefits
Susquehanna Financial Group has upgraded its rating on Hibbett Sports as it expects its stores and recently-launched e-commerce site to benefit from footwear replacement needs caused by hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Academy’s Challenges Continue In First Half
Moody’s downgraded the debt ratings of Academy Sports + Outdoors due to “difficult market conditions, including a highly promotional environment for athletic apparel and weak demand for firearms and ammunition,”

Fitbit Not Too Worried About Apple’s New Smartwatch
At the Deutsche Bank Technology Conference, William Zerella, Fitbit’s CFO, said that while the recent launch of the Apple Watch Series 3 caught some buzz, Fitbit’s first smartwatch, Ionic, is ready to compete in the space.

Nike Faces Downgrades On Growth Concerns
Analysts from Susquehanna Financial Group and Jefferies on Tuesday lowered their earnings guidance and price targets on Nike due to further growth concerns. Susquehanna also lowered its stock rating on Nike.

Wells Fargo Downgrades Under Armour, Cuts Estimates On Athletic Sector
Wells Fargo downgraded Under Armour to “underperform” while lowering its estimates on Under Armour, Nike, Lululemon and Finish Line due to a slowdown in the athletic cycle.

Iconix Touts Its Active Brands Growth Potential
At CL King’s 15th Annual Best Ideas Conference 2017, Dave Jones, EVP and CFO of Iconix Brand Group, said many of the company’s active brands continue to offer the most growth potential for the company. Mossimo, Starter, Ocean Pacific, Umbro, Danskin and Pony were all called out.

Roots To Accelerate Expansion With IPO
Roots, the Canadian lifestyle apparel chain, filed for an initial public offering to accomplish ambitious growth goals in the years ahead, including adding about a dozen new doors in the U.S.

Nike’s Heidi O’Neill Discusses Digital-First Strategy
At Recode’s Code Commerce event in New York City, Heidi O’Neill, Nike’s president of direct-to-consumer business, discussed Nike’s aggressive moves into direct-to-consumer, its decision to sell directly to Amazon and overall digital transformation.

Aisle Talk, Week Of September 11
Top headlines from the active lifestyle industry you may have missed this week.

Fanatics Aiming For $10 Billion In Sales
Expanding internationally and capitalizing on its verticalization capabilities, Fanatics expects to reach over $2 billion in sales in 2017 and sees the long-term opportunity to reach more than $10 billion in sales, Michael Rubin, executive chairman of Fanatics, said Wednesday at Recode’s Code Commerce event.

Deckers Brands Receives Director Nominations From Marcato Capital Management
Deckers Brands confirmed that affiliates of Marcato Capital Management have nominated 10 director candidates to stand for election to the Board of Directors at Deckers’ 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Aisle Talk, Week Of September 4
Top headlines from the active lifestyle industry you may have missed this week.

Strong Start For Hero 6 Lifts GoPro’s Q3 Results
Boosted by a strong early response to the launch of the Hero 6, GoPro Inc. hiked its guidance for revenue and gross margin for its third quarter ended September 30.