Is JD Sports Fashion (LSE: JD) a value stock? Is it a growth stock? It’s probably both, but given how it’s flying right now, frankly, who cares?
Whatever label investors choose to stick on the FTSE 100 sportswear and trainer retailer, one thing is certain. The JD Sports share price is having a moment.
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It jumped 17.66% last week and is up 24.53% over the month. This is brilliant news for me because I bought its shares on 22 January to take advantage of what I thought was an unmissable buying opportunity.
Sports star?
It was definitely a value stock at the time. JD shares plunged more than a third after poor Christmas sales triggered a profit warning. Buying companies on bad news allows me to pick them up on the cheap, but it’s risky as more bad news often follows. Happily, JD has bounced back at speed.
On 22 August the board reported a solid 2.4% rise in like-for-like Q2 sales, boosted by its store rollout programme in North America and Europe. This reversed the 0.7% sales drop in the previous quarter. UK sales fell 0.8% but that was a big improvement on Q1’s 6.4% drop.
I’d wanted to buy JD shares for years because the company appears to have cracked the US, giving it a huge growth opportunity. After completing the acquisition of Alabama-based retailer Hibbett in Q2, it now boasts 1,169 stores across 36 states. This was lifted by 85 new openings during the quarter.
JD Sports isn’t out of the woods, despite being on course to hit its pre-tax profit guidance range of £955m to £1.035bn (excluding Hibbett). CEO Régis Schultz rightly remains cautious amid current volatility.
There’s a chance the US could fall into a recession, which would drag the UK and Europe down too. Fingers crossed the US Federal Reserve can engineer a soft landing.
JD shares may take a breather after last week’s blistering showing. Yet I still think there’s value here, with the stock trading at 11.68 times earnings. That’s comfortably below the FTSE 100 average of 15.3 times. The shares are up a relatively modest 12.09% over 12 months. They’re actually down 25.03% over three years.
Another risk is that the trainer market isn’t quite the force it was. Witness the struggles afflicting Nike. It’s a key JD partner, along with Adidas. One day these two behemoths could find other routes to market, a constant threat hanging over JD.
The trailing dividend yield is disappointing at just 0.6%. With cover a massive 13.5, the board has massive scope for more generosity here.
I spotted that its return on equity was steadily falling, even before the profit warning. But it has picked up lately. Let’s see what the charts say.
Chart by TradingView
After last week’s strong run, JD Sports shares may idle for a while. With luck, that will give me time to raise some cash and buy more while they’re still good value.
