Citigroup's Annual Basketball Footwear Survey In 10 Charts

Citigroup recently released its annual U.S. basketball footwear survey. Despite some difficult comps this year, analysts believe that the major drivers in the space are still intact.

Here’s a look at 10 charts Citi included in the report that tell the story of the world of basketball footwear.

So far in 2015, nothing is slowing down the continued pattern of year-over-year basketball footwear growth.

Year-to-date, footwear sales numbers seem to be mostly meeting retailers’ expectations, as 43.1 percent of respondents to the survey said that 2015 sales are within their expected range.

Exactly 31.6 percent of respondents predict 2015 full-year basketball footwear sales growth will be flat, 29.8 percent predict it will be down and 38.6 percent predict it will be up for the year.

According to the survey, the most important factor driving sales of basketball footwear in 2015 is overall fashion design.

Overall, 41.5 percent of respondents feel that the number of footwear products hitting the market in 2015 is about the right number of products, while 18.8 percent feel that there are not enough products and 39.6 feel that there are too many products hitting stores.

Retailers believe the LeBron 12 is the 2015 release that has consumers excited the most.

Exactly 55.2 percent of respondents believe that prices of current products are too high and that retailers are seeing signs of price resistance.

Roughly 40 percent of retailers are planning for flat back-to-school sales numbers this year. Nearly 45 percent of the largest retailers are hopeful that this year’s back-to-school season will bring in a year-over-year increase in sales.

The Citi survey included more than 60 retailers in both the sporting goods channel and other channels.

The retailers represented a wide range of sizes.

Price targets

Citi included in the report their price targets for several athletic apparel stocks. The targets are listed below.

• Foot Locker, Inc. FL - $68 target
• Nike Inc NKE - $111 target
• Under Armour Inc UA - $88 target
• Finish Line Inc FINL - $26 target