Skechers USA Inc. Sinks On Back-To-School Wind-Down

Skechers USA Inc. SKX tumbled Wednesday from near a 52-week high after a market researcher reported sharply slowing sales growth for U.S. athletic footwear in the important back-to-school season. SportsOneSource Group, Charlotte, North Carolina, said sales in the category grew 2 percent in the week ended Sept. 13 compared with an increase of 7 percent during the same period a year ago. Sales growth in the subcategory of running shoes grew slowed to 5 percent from 8.4 percent last year. Basketball sales proved an exception, up 14.2 from last year's increase of 13.9 percent. Total spending on back to school will drop slightly to $26.5 billion according to the National Association of Retailers. https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/demand-clothing-supplies-electronics-drives-schoolcollege-spending Sterne Agee's Sam Poser said the SportsOneSource data suggests the back-to-school season is "winding down hard." Poser called the decline in Skechers' stock price Wednesday "a buying opportunity." The company has beat earnings estimates by a wide margin in each of the past three quarters the shares hit an all-time high Monday of $64.69 a share. Although Skechers fell Wednesday, Nike Inc. NKE was nearly unchanged and Adidas AG ADDYY traded up recently more than 3 percent.