Gildan plans buy back, Genesco's shares plunge, Nike gets downgraded

Canadian family apparel supplier Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL) announced its plan yesterday to buy back shares through private agreements between the company and a third-party seller. Gildan intends to purchase for cancellation up to 1,525,000 of its common shares, which will form part of Gildan's normal course issuer bid which provides authorization for the purchase of up to 6.1 million shares announced on December 4, 2014. Purchase information will be available via SEDAR.

Nashville-based specialty retailer for branded footwear and sports Genesco (GCO) saw its shares plunge by 13.2 percent in Monday's session. This means the stock is now trading below the volatile price range of 77.36 US dollars to 81.37 US dollars in the past one-month time frame.

Investors will not be surprised by this movement as Genesco has had two negative revisions in the past few weeks and its current year earnings consensus has moved lower over the last 30 days. Analysts suggest keeping an eye on the stock to see if the slump continues as there may be more trouble ahead.

On Monday, sportswear giant Nike (NKE) opened at 99.33 US dollars and was downgraded from an “outperform” to a “market perform” rating by equities researchers at the Telsey Advisory Group. They currently have a 102.00 US dollars price target on the stock, which indicates a potential upside of 2.69 percent from Nike's current price.

The company has a 52-week-low of 69.85 US dollars and a 52-week-high of 99.76 US dollars. Its stock has a 50-day moving average of 94.76 US dollars and a 200-day moving average of 83.16 US dollars. Nike's market capitalization is currently at 85.574 billion US dollars and a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.02.

Analysts predict 3.61 US dollar earnings per share for Nike for the current fiscal year and analysts at Deutsche Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Nike in a recent research note. The company's next quarterly dividend is scheduled for Monday, January 5th, 2015.