Shares in Under Armour surged on Friday after the Sports apparel giant received an upgrade
Investing.com -- One night after Stephen Curry led the Golden State Warriors to a thrilling overtime win in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Under Armour saw its shares soar on Friday after receiving an upgrade from Wall Street Analysts.
Shares in Under Armour surged more than 4%, after analysts at D.A. Davidson said the Maryland-based sports clothing company's rapid expansion is providing valuable investment capital that will enable it to reach annual growth targets of "20-25%" on a long-term basis.
While speaking with investors during a conference call in April, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank said he was confident Curry could help propel the company's basketball line into a $1 billion dollar brand. Following the successful launch of Under Armour's Curry One shoe, offered in Warriors' blue-and-gold, Plank is hopeful that its Curry Two can be as profitable.
“From the Curry One to the Curry Two, we’ve been modifying and chasing that a little bit where we had pretty limited expectations of what we really wanted to do with that product to begin with," Plank said during the call. "It’s going to help elevate what was about a $100 million basketball business. And you know our goal is building a billion-dollar-basketball brand.”
Curry, the sweet-shooting, baby-faced assassin, earned NBA MVP honors in the 2014-2015 regular season, after averaging 23.8 points, 7.7 assists and 2.04 steals per game. Curry ranked sixth in the NBA in points and assists and fourth in steals.
After spending the first four years of his professional career with Nike (NYSE:NKE), Curry jumped to Under Armour prior to the 2013-2014 season. At the time, Under Armour trailed its competitors badly, owning roughly just 0.35% of the U.S. Basketball retail market, according to SportsOne Source, a sports market tracking firm.
In February, though, Under Armour bypassed Adidas (XETRA:ADSGN) for the second-ranked position in U.S. sales of sports footwork and apparel behind Nike. Under Armour also sponsors Detroit Pistons guard Brandon Jennings and Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker.
Shares in Under Armour gained more than 3.8 points on Friday to an intraday high of 82.00, its highest level in a month.