Battered Performance Sports Group Ltd (PSG) and Two Strong-Performing Companies Witness Insider Buying

Struggling Sporting Goods Retailer Registers Insider Buying

Performance Sports Group Ltd (NYSE:PSG) also witnessed one member of its Board pile up more shares this week. Director C. Michael Jacobi purchased 11,830 shares on Tuesday and 19,000 shares on Wednesday at prices varying from $3.48 to $3.60 per share. After the recent purchases, Mr. Jacobi continues to own 33,830 shares.

The developer and manufacturer of ice hockey, roller hockey, lacrosse, baseball and softball sports equipment has seen its market value plummet by 64% since the beginning of 2016, mainly due to the downwardly-revised outlook for fiscal 2016 released in early March. Precisely, the company issued a press release in early March disclosing that it had lowered fiscal 2016 adjusted EPS guidance to the range of $0.12-to-$0.14 per diluted share from the range of $0.66-to-$0.69. The significantly-reduced outlook was mainly related to three primary factors: a write down of the receivable balance from sporting goods retailer Sports Authority Inc. that filed for bankruptcy, as well as the possible loss of sales from this retailer; weakness in the baseball and softball market; and additional bad debt reserves for certain U.S. hockey customers. The grim near-term outlook issued by the company put significant pressure on its shares, and it is not entirely clear whether there is a light at the end of the tunnel at this point in time.

Performance Sports Group anticipates continued challenges in its U.S. baseball and softball business, which were experienced in the third quarter of fiscal 2016 that ended February 2016 when revenues declined 8% year-on-year to $126.1 million. There were nine hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey with stakes in the sporting goods retailer, which amassed nearly 6% of its outstanding shares. Charles Paquelet’s Skylands Capital upped its position in Performance Sports Group Ltd (NYSE:PSG) by 76% during the March quarter to 1.02 million shares.