Sell Under Armour shares because of an 'intensifying' price war with Nike, analyst says

Kevin Plank, founder and chief executive officer of Under Armour.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

FBR Capital Markets lowered its rating for Under Armour shares to underperform from market perform, saying the company will report earnings below Wall Street expectations this year.

"We are downgrading UAA … given recent checks, proprietary surveys, unfavorable trends, and our apparel/footwear analysis pointing to continued sales/margin pressure. Our checks show a price war is intensifying between NKE and UA," analyst Susan Anderson wrote in a note to clients Monday. "Also, a lack of UA footwear innovation, increased competitor innovation (NKE VaporMax), and our footwear survey showing UA is losing consumer resonance could mean lower 2017 footwear growth."

Under Armour shares are down 32 percent year to date through Friday, with most of the decline occurring after the company gave weaker-than-expected 2017 sales guidance in its fourth-quarter earnings report on Jan. 31.