Companies and Brands

Are GoPro and Nike Set to Take Over?

Piper Jaffray has opined that both GoPro Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) and Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) have plenty of room to run. The firm has issued price targets with strong double-digit upside. With the recent Masters Tournament win by Jordan Spieth, many investors and consumers have been focused heavily on Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA). Despite 24/7 Wall St. saying that Under Armour may be in the same position that Apple was in a decade ago, there still appears to be room for other industry giants in apparel and accessories in sports.

Apparel giant Nike is a Dow Jones Industrial Average component. So it is not as if the consensus expectation is that it is ready to lose much ground. Nike’s most recent earnings report would have been far better had it not been for currencies acting a major headwind.

Piper Jaffray’s upgrade for Nike was to Overweight, and the firm’s new price target is $115. That is 15% higher than the share price on Wednesday morning, and the consensus analyst price target is $108.50. Nike’s highest price target is only $7 higher than the new one from Piper Jaffray. The analyst’s take is partly based on the notion that the trends toward casual and exercise apparel will continue. 24/7 Wall St. just showed a detailed comparison for Under Armour and Nike as far as future expectations of the growth of each, as well as what investors are having to pay for that growth.

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GoPro is considered to be the king of wearable cameras for sports enthusiasts. There may be few barriers to entry for current and future competitors, and it may have cheaper alternatives on the market already. Still, Piper Jaffray issued a $55 price target on Tuesday evening after raising the GoPro rating to Overweight from Neutral.

The driving force behind the GoPro upgrade is a rapid adoption of the brand by enthusiasts, where adventure junkies are becoming daily users now. Another boost in GoPro is underlying pricing gains and a stronger desire from young users to receive GoPro. All this is expected to bring higher use inside the GoPro ecosystem, now that it has media efforts at least somewhat underway.

GoPro shares were up over 4% at $46.40 in late morning trading on Wednesday, but the $55 still leaves close to 20% in implied upside, if Piper Jaffray is correct. Also, this is a sub-consensus call, as GoPro has a consensus analyst price target of $63 or so.

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