UAA - Back-to-school and holiday shopping should power beats for these softlines - UBS

School starts in some regions of the U.S. as soon as next week, with other openings rolling through mid-August and a few around Labor Day, and that means a key season for softline retailers. And the latest visit from UBS to its Evidence Lab leaves it bullish on the sector, expecting a healthy back-to-school season feeding into a strong Q4 to give a boost to stocks. While softlines rose 500 basis points over the past month, they still underperformed the S&P 500 by about 250 bps, UBS says - citing concerns about the Delta variant of COVID-19 and its effect on supply chains, and worries about rising inflation. But the market is underestimating strength in the sector and that will lead to "stock-catalyzing Q2, Q3 and Q4 EPS beats." For back-to-school, data show one of the best-selling categories will be footwear, it says - and that bodes well for Under

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Back-to-school and holiday shopping should power beats for these softlines - UBS