JD Sports Fashion was struggling to reassure investors before the ousting of long-time executive chairman and chief executive Peter Cowgill two months ago. The company was beset by a series of corporate governance blunders and feared that the dramatic growth in sales could fall as consumer spending deteriorated.
A stellar outperformance against the FTSE 100 over the five years leading up to this one has sharply reversed. Fair enough, considering that index’s weighting towards energy stocks tuned into the rapid rise in commodity prices, but the stock’s underperformance also extends to the FTSE 250.
At just nine times forecast earnings, the shares are the cheapest they have been since the onset of the first lockdown in March 2020 and far below an average multiple of
