JD Sports is ready to run

Retailer JD Sports could buck the sector trend and looks attractively valued, says Matthew Partridge.

Shareholders in JD Sports Fashion (LSE: JD) had a turbulent 2018. In the first nine months the stock soared by 40% to a peak of 508p. But the company fell victim to investors' shift away from growth stocks during the autumn. By Christmas the shares were down to 339p. A recent rally has boosted them to 380p. So what next?

JD Sports has done well over the past few years, with revenue tripling between 2014 and 2018. Some of this was due to acquisitions, including the decision to buy Go Outdoors in 2016. However, most of it has come from correctly anticipating that people increasingly want to wear sports clothes that are fashionable, not just functional.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri