The Best Sports Retail Stocks To Buy Amid The Holiday Shopping Season

Welcome to the latest episode of the Full-Court Finance podcast from Zacks Investment Research where Associate Stock Strategist Ben Rains talks about some of the best sports-based retail stocks to buy before Black Friday amid the busy holiday shopping season.

The National Retail Federation predicts that holiday retail sales will jump as much as 4.8% to reach $720.89 billion in 2018. Plus, the NRF recently announced that 164 million people plan to go shopping this Thanksgiving Day all the way through Cyber Monday, which includes Black Friday and the American Express (NYSE:AXP) -backed Small Business Saturday.

With that said, Macy’s (NYSE:M) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) helped kick off the busy part of Q3 earnings season from traditional brick-and-mortar retailers last week. But their stock prices fell as investors took earnings as a chance to realize some of their gains. This could be a bad sign for the likes of Target (NYSE:TGT) , Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) , and others that report their results this week, with investors expected to pay close attention amid continued pressure from online players such as Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) .

Yet, amid sky-high consumer confidence, other retailers have surged recently and look like they might be worth buying at the moment. Canada Goose (NYSE:GOOS) , which reported its quarterly earnings results last Wednesday, is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) based on its positive earnings estimate revision trends and strong growth prospects.

The Toronto-based retailer sells high-end and high-priced parkas that have helped people stay warm exploring Antarctica. Now Canada Goose, which went public in the spring of 2017, looks poised to expand into China as it strengthens its direct-to-consumer push. Shares of GOOS have soared 30% in the last month alone and we are headed into the company’s busy winter quarter.

Moving on, we dive into another retailer that has caught fire recently that is also a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) shares have skyrocketed 35% over the last month as the broader market fell. The company is hardly a hardcore sports retailer, but the rubber clogs can be seen on the feet of athletes before and after games to campsites after a long day of backpacking.

On top of Crocs and Canada Goose, yoga and athleisure giant Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU) remains a strong buy as it continues to grab market share from Nike (NYSE:NKE) , Adidas (OTC:ADDYY) , and Under Armour (NYSE:UAA) . It also looks like investors might be able to scoop up LULU stock on the dip right now. Columbia Sportswear (NYSE:M) is another sports-focused retailer that might be worth considering during the holiday shopping season.

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