In this weeks share tip, Edmund Shing says Britains booming retail sector means that it has never been a better time to invest in a high-street brand.
With the Rugby World Cup having a positive impact on clothing and footwear sales, Shing argues Mike Ashleys Sports Direct (LON:SPD) is ripe for investment.
Here are five reasons why Sports Direct shares will perform better than the home nations at this years tournament.
1) Biggest sports retailer: Sports Direct is a FTSE 100 company with a market value of nearly £4bn (€5.5bn, $6bn). It is the number one sports retailer in the UK with 440 stores.
2) International presence: Not only is Sports Direct big in the UK but also abroad. It has a presence in 20 countries internationally, including Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Spain, Poland, Cyprus and Portugal. Through a franchising agreement, Sports Direct-branded stores also exist in South Africa and the Middle East.
3) Strong online presence: But it is not just physical stores where Sports Direct excels. It also has a very strong online presence through its website, sportsdirect.com.
4) Strong business model: Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley, who is chairman of Premier League side Newcastle United, holds over 50% of the outstanding shares in the company. This is a very strong family, which suggests security to shareholders. It also has a very strong business model of stack em high and sell em cheap, not dissimilar to budget supermarkets Aldi and Lidl.
5) It is cheap: Its share price has fallen in the last couple of months and currently has a P/E ratio (TTM) of 16.29 (as of 21 October), cheaper than the overall market. It still has strong sales growth and good profit margins, which have been boosted currently by England hosting the Rugby World Cup.
Edmund Shing is Global Head of Equity Derivative Strategy at BNP Paribas in London. He holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence.
