What happened
Shares of DSW Inc. (DBI 3.21%) climbed 9.65% on Friday after after a notable analyst upgrade and encouraging results from fellow footwear retailer Foot Locker (FL 0.48%).
For perspective on the latter, shares of Foot Locker skyrocketed more than 28% today after the company posted declining revenue (down 0.8% year over year to $1.87 billion) and adjusted earnings (down 23% to $0.87 per share). But those figures handily exceeded expectations, Foot Locker says, thanks to better availability in premium products so far in the second half. Foot Locker also predicted it could modestly outpace its previous guidance during the crucial holiday season.
IMAGE SOURCE: DSW.
So what
It stands to reason, then, that Foot Locker's relative strength could carry over to its peers and suppliers. To be sure, DSW wasn't alone in riding Foot Locker's coattails higher; shares of Finish Line climbed 7.4% today, Nike rose 3.4%, and Under Armour gained 2.4%.
But also likely helping to stoke DSW's gains was an upgrade yesterday from Susquehanna analyst Sam Poser, who increased his rating on the stock to "positive" from "neutral" and assigned a price target of $23 per share (DSW closed today at $22.15 per share). To justify his bullishness, Poser cited "positive trends" within DSW's women's segment.
Now what
As it stands, investors will need to wait until DSW formally releases third-quarter 2017 results next Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, before we know whether today's pop was merited. But considering DSW stock is now up 35% over the past three months -- a move that started when the company posted its best comparable-sales performance since 2015 with its Q2 results in August -- it won't be terribly surprising if DSW's report next week holds even more good news.
