The JD Sports share price popped by more than 7.30% after the company published strong first-half financial results. The stock jumped to an all-time high of 1,150p, bringing its total gains in the past 12 months to more than 40%. This makes it one of the best performing FTSE 100 stocks.
JD Sports is a leading sports retailer with more than 800 sports globally. The company sells fashion brands from companies like Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, and fubu, among others. It is also a leading player in the fast-growing industry known as Athleisure.
JD Sports, like other sports retailers, have seen their business outperform as sports come back. Also, the rising demand for personal fitness products has led to a robust business. For example, last week, Lululemon, the biggest athleisure brand reported strong quarterly results.
In a statement, JD Sports said that its pre-tax profit rose from 41.5 million pounds to more than 364.6 million pounds in the first six to July 31st. Its revenue also rose by about 52% to 3.89 billion pounds. The management also boosted its forward guidance, saying:
“Assuming a prudent but realistic set of assumptions for the peak trading period ahead, we presently anticipate delivering a headline profit before tax for the full year of at least £750m.”
Analysts believe that the JD Sports share price will keep rising in the longer term. Those at Berenberg believe that the shares will rise to 1,200p while those at Liberum Capital thinks that it will rise to 1,150. To be fair, these ratings happened before this week’s strong results, meaning that analysts will likely boost their forecasts.
The daily chart shows that the JD sports share price has been in a strong bullish trend in the past few months. And in August, the stock managed to move above the upper line of the ascending rising wedge pattern. Since the rising wedge is usually a bearish sign, the fact that the stock moved above the upper line invalidated the bearish view.
At the same time, the stock remains above the 25-day and 50-day moving averages, which is a bullish sign. The MACD has moved to the highest level since September last year.
Therefore, in this case, the trend is your friend, meaning that the stock may keep rising. The bullish trend will remain as long as the price is above the two moving averages.