5 Best Sporting Goods Stocks To Invest In

1. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Number Of Hedge Fund Holders: 68

Arguably the most famous sports-associated brand in the world, Nike, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services.

Earlier this April, JPMorgan analyst Matthew Boss reiterated an Overweight rating on Nike, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) with a $164 price target after the company announced that China would be on pace to deliver “sequential improvement” in the fourth quarter, despite the impact of COVID-related restrictions on the local consumer market.

Nike, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is a favorite among elite hedge funds, making it a decent choice for anyone wishing to diversify their portfolio. Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, London-based investment firm Fundsmith LLP is a leading shareholder in NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) with 8.7 million shares worth more than $1.4 billion. Overall, 68 hedge funds were bullish on the stock by the end of December 2021.

In its Q4 2021 investor letter, ClearBridge Investments, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is another play on e-commerce as well as the anticipated growth in consumer spending as we learn to live with COVID-19. After selling out of the stock in 2016 due to competitive concerns, we were motivated to repurchase shares because of optimism around a new management team’s focus on accelerating Nike’s shift toward e-commerce and direct-to-consumer (DTC) distribution. Near-term supply chain issues in Vietnam and retail weakness in China that we see as ephemeral provided a good buying opportunity. We do not believe the market is giving proper credit to Nike’s potential to deliver attractive, high-single-digit revenue growth while delivering operating margin expansion as more merchandise is sold direct. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) is also still underindexed to the women’s category, which we see as a significant ongoing catalyst.”

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