Sports Retailers Are Sinking On Wall Street

Sporting goods retailers can’t shake their losing streak. Shares of stores that mostly sell sneakers and sporting gear plummeted Friday after Foot Locker and smaller rival Hibbett Sports reported a drop in sales in the latest quarter. Both also offered gloomy outlooks for the rest of the year. Sporting goods retailers are facing increasing competition from department stores and clothing chains, which are beefing up the number of sneakers and athletic wear they sell, said Neil Saunders, a retail analyst at GlobalData. At the same time, sneaker brands are increasingly selling their goods directly to customers through their own websites or stores. That means shoppers don’t need to head to a sporting goods stores to pick up sneakers or running shorts. Sports Authority went out of business last year, closing all its 460 stores after filing for bankruptcy protection. In June, Nike said it would begin selling its shoes through Amazon.com, but it fell sharply with nearly all sports-related stocks Friday. Under Armour tumbled almost 4 percent. Read more at CBS News.