Berenberg raises target price on JD Sports

Berenberg noted that despite some early investor confusion and caution. JD Sports still upped its full-year profit guidance by around 4% in its largely qualitative Christmas trading statement and said the group's second half performance surpassed even its more bullish expectations.

"UK retail sentiment has turned negative following a number of retail profit warnings, but JD continues to stand out from the crowd," said the analysts.

"This continued strong momentum, alongside near-term profit tailwinds, suggests that more upgrades will come."

Capturing new guidance, the German bank raised its 2020-21 underlying earnings forecasts by 3% but, also cautioned that it saw up to 7% of further upside risk to its own estimates.

"We still believe relative valuation remains attractive versus global growth peers and we raise our price target to 950p," said Berenberg, which kept its 'buy' rating on JD Sports.