That is exactly what recently happened for three struggling stocks: GameStop (NYSE: GME), Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER), and Dick’s Sporting Goods NYSE: DKS). 

Ryan Cohen Makes Another Big Bet on GameStop

GameStop Corp. has gone from a leader among meme stocks to one of the struggling stocks in 2026. However, CEO Ryan Cohen recently spent about $20.4 million to purchase another one million shares of the video game retailer.

According to a filing with the US SEC, Cohen paid between $20.02 and $20.47 per share. It was his first open-market purchase since January, when he bought one million shares for approximately $21.4 million. Cohen was not alone. Directors Lawrence Cheng, James Grube, and Alain Attal purchased a combined 70,255 shares for about $1.3 million. Cheng made the largest investment of the group, picking up 55,000 shares.

Uber’s CEO Bought $10 Million Worth of Stock

Uber Technologies CEO Dara Khosrowshahi picked up about $10 million of his company’s stock.

Khosrowshahi bought 141,000 shares at an average price of $70.96. The transaction increased his total position to about 1.37 million shares, worth roughly $100 million.

What made the purchase particularly interesting was how quickly it was disclosed. Insiders generally have two business days to report their trades, and many wait a day or two. Khosrowshahi’s filing appeared around 12:40 p.m. Eastern on the same day he bought the shares. The market reacted almost immediately. Uber stock jumped approximately 3% after the disclosure and finished the session at $72.56, up 2.1%.

It was Khosrowshahi’s first open-market purchase of Uber shares since May 2022. It also followed another large insider transaction. On September 4, Chief Operating Officer Andrew Macdonald bought 70,000 shares for about $5.3 million, paying between $75.23 and $76.85 per share. Those two purchases send a fairly clear message: Uber’s top executives appear to believe the market is undervaluing the company.

DKS Directors Buy After a 30% Collapse

Insiders also stepped in at Dick’s Sporting Goods after a disappointing earnings report sent the stock plunging 30% in a single session.

The shares fell to approximately $124, their lowest level since 2023 and nearly 50% below the 52-week high of $244 reached in June.

Four directors, including Robert Eddy, Sandeep Mathrani, William Colombo, and Mark Barrenechea, responded by buying up a combined $3.7 million of stock. Barrenechea made the largest investment, buying 17,000 shares.

The purchases came as investors worried about Dick’s $2.5 billion acquisition of Foot Locker. Dick’s reduced its comparable-sales outlook for Foot Locker to a range of negative 2% to flat, down from its previous forecast of 1.5% to 3% growth. Quarterly earnings of $3.53 per share also fell short of the $3.76 analysts expected. Wall Street subsequently cut its 2026 earnings estimates to less than $12 per share from about $14.

Even so, some analysts believe the selloff went too far. Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman maintained a Buy rating but reduced his price target from $270 to $180. His argument is that the core Dick’s business can generate roughly $12 per share in annual earnings without Foot Locker. That means investors were valuing the core operation at only a little more than 10 times earnings following the plunge.

What Insider Buying Can Mean for Struggling Stocks

Insider buying is never a guarantee that struggling stocks have reached a bottom. Executives can be early, and even the people running a company cannot predict every competitive or economic challenge. However, these transactions are still worth watching.

At GameStop, insiders are expressing confidence, but investors want more proof of a successful turnaround. At Uber, two major executive purchases suggest that management believes fears about autonomous vehicles have created an opportunity. At Dick’s Sporting Goods, directors appear to be betting that the market overreacted to near-term problems involving Foot Locker.

The headline numbers looked rough on the surface. Diluted earnings per share fell to $3.50, down from $4.71 a year ago. Non-GAAP EPS came in at $3.53, versus $4.38 last year. Net sales jumped 53% to $5.6 billion, but that growth was driven almost entirely by the Foot Locker acquisition, not by organic strength.

The core DICK’S Business actually performed well, with 4.9% comparable sales growth. The real story is Foot Locker, which is dragging down results and forcing management to rethink its 2026 plan. This piece breaks down where the pressure is coming from, why margins are under strain, and whether this sell-off has priced in more damage than the fundamentals actually support.

DICK’S Sporting Goods Earnings Reveal a Tale of Two Businesses

Foot Locker is the clear source of investor anxiety. Pro forma comparable sales for the Foot Locker Business declined 3.6% in the quarter, a steep drop from modest growth expectations. Management pointed to weak footwear launches and a heavier reliance on legacy retro product, both of which underperformed both industry benchmarks and internal targets.

That weakness pushed management to lower its full-year Foot Locker comparable sales outlook to a range of negative 2.0% to 0.0%. Operating income guidance for both DICK’S and Foot Locker segments was also reduced.

Perhaps more concerning for margin-focused investors: management said the athletic footwear and apparel marketplace has become “increasingly promotional.” The company plans to remain competitively priced to protect market share, which means leaning more heavily on promotions in the coming quarters. Promotions drive traffic, but they also compress gross margins. That’s a headwind investors should watch closely as the holiday season approaches, when promotional intensity typically peaks anyway.

Foot Locker Is the Biggest Problem for DICK’S Sporting Goods

Complicating the picture further, Dick’s continues investing heavily in its physical footprint. Gross capital expenditures rose 41% year-over-year, to $743 million for the first half of fiscal 2026. Full-year guidance calls for roughly $1.6 billion in gross capital spending.

Much of that money is flowing into experiential formats: DICK’S House of Sport and DICK’S Field House locations. These larger-format stores carry higher build-out costs and take time to mature financially. In the near term, they add depreciation and pre-opening expense without a matching revenue lift.

Layer this reinvestment on top of Foot Locker’s promotional pressure, and it’s easy to see why operating margin compressed sharply. Consolidated operating margin fell to 7.9% from 12.4% a year ago. Some of that decline reflects one-time acquisition costs. But even on a non-GAAP basis, margin dropped from 13.0% to 8.1%.

None of this means the long-term store strategy is wrong. House of Sport locations have historically driven strong returns once ramped. But investors need patience while that plays out alongside Foot Locker’s turnaround.

DICK’S Store Investments Are Squeezing Margins in the Near Term

Here’s where perception may be running ahead of fundamentals. Full-year non-GAAP EPS guidance now sits at $11.00 to $12.00, down from $13.50 to $14.50 last quarter. At the low end, that’s roughly a 21% year-over-year decline. The stock, however, fell more than 30% in one session — a reaction that looks disproportionate to the guidance cut itself.

Importantly, the dividend appears secure. The board just declared a $1.25 per-share quarterly dividend, unchanged from the prior payout, payable September 25.

Share buybacks have slowed. Dick’s repurchased $141 million in stock in the first half of fiscal 2026, down from $299 million a year earlier, as capital shifted toward the Foot Locker integration. Still, $3.0 billion remains authorized for future repurchases. As integration costs fade and cash flow normalizes, buyback activity could reaccelerate.

DICK’S Sporting Goods Stock Sell-Off May Be Overdone

This looks less like a broken business and more like a market reacting emotionally to integration turbulence. The core DICK’S Business still posted comps growth of 4.9%. That’s not a company in decline.

Foot Locker’s integration is clearly messier and slower than hoped, and that’s the primary risk here: further delays or higher-than-expected costs could continue to pressure margins longer than investors want. But a 30%+ drop against a 21% guidance cut suggests the market may be pricing in worse outcomes than management has actually signaled.

For existing shareholders, this may be a moment to consider adding to positions. For those who’ve been waiting for a better entry point on DKS, it may have just arrived — just not in the way anyone expected.

Helping, the firm just upgraded the stock from Equal Weight to Overweight, signaling that analysts now believe the stock offers an attractive opportunity. Wells Fargo also raised its price target from $220 to $240.

Analyst Ike Boruchow said Wells Fargo has become more optimistic about Dick’s long-term prospects. Rather than focusing only on the company’s upcoming quarterly results, the firm is looking at what could happen over the next several years. “At current levels we are buyers of the risk/reward,” Boruchow said in a note to clients, adding that Wells Fargo believes Dick’s is developing a strong multi-year growth story, as quoted by CNBC. 

Foot Locker Could Be a Major Growth Driver

One of the biggest reasons for Wells Fargo’s optimism is Foot Locker, which is now owned by Dick’s Sporting Goods. 

Foot Locker has been working through a major overhaul of its business strategy. The company is remodeling stores, improving relationships with vendors and making its products more visible across different sales channels, including its stores and online platforms. Wells Fargo believes these changes could eventually help Foot Locker significantly improve its profitability.

According to Boruchow, Foot Locker could potentially return to operating margins of 7% to 8% over the next several years. Better product allocation and merchandising are expected to be important parts of that improvement.

Dick’s Could Also Benefit from Nike

Wells Fargo sees another potential catalyst for Dick’s: Nike.

Nike has been working to turn around its business after a difficult period marked by weaker demand and changes in its product and sales strategy.

Because Dick’s is one of the largest sporting goods retailers in the United States, a successful Nike recovery could benefit the company. Wells Fargo believes Dick’s could be one of the better ways for investors to gain exposure to a future improvement in Nike’s products and sales.

Boruchow said early checks on Nike’s product pipeline for spring 2027 have been encouraging.

If Nike launches products that perform well with consumers, retailers such as Dick’s could see stronger demand. That could create another boost for Dick’s sales in the coming years.

Investors Are Already Seeing Some Improvement

Dick’s Sporting Goods’ latest results also provided some encouraging signs.

Dick’s reported first-quarter revenue of about $5.17 billion, or a 62.6% increase from the same period a year earlier. Revenue also came in about $100 million above analysts’ expectations.

Adjusted earnings per share were $2.90, which was slightly below the $2.91 expected by analysts. More importantly, the company raised the low end of its full-year 2026 comparable sales outlook for both Dick’s and Foot Locker.

Dick’s now expects comparable sales growth of 2.5% to 4%, compared with its previous range of 2% to 4%. Foot Locker’s comparable sales outlook was also increased, with the company now expecting growth of 1.5% to 3%, up from 1% to 3%.

The Bottom Line

With Wells Fargo now bullish on Dick’s Sporting Goods, with a $240 price target, Wells Fargo believes the company’s transformation is still in its early stages. The key question for investors will be whether Dick’s can successfully execute its plans and turn these investments into stronger sales and profits over the next several years.

The Quarter in Numbers

For the fourth quarter ended January 31, 2026, net income fell 57.3% to $128 million, or $1.41 per diluted share, compared to $300 million, or $3.62, in the prior-year period. Net sales surged 59.9% to $6.23 billion from $3.89 billion — a jump that reflects the first full contribution from Foot Locker, which closed in September 2025. The comparison is flattering on the top line, but the bottom-line contraction is hard to ignore, and it’s by design: DICK’S Sporting Goods has been deliberately absorbing the costs of transforming its newly acquired competitor.

For the full year 2025, net income was down 27.1% to $849 million, or $9.97 per diluted share, versus $1.17 billion, or $14.05, in 2024. Full-year net sales rose 28.1% to $17.22 billion from $13.44 billion. On a non-GAAP basis, which strips out integration charges, the Dick’s-only business earned $14.58 per share — a figure that underscores just how solid the legacy operation remains.

Guidance Misses the Mark

The market’s lukewarm response to an otherwise respectable report traces directly to the 2026 outlook. DICK’S Sporting Goods guided for full-year 2026 adjusted earnings per share of $13.50 to $14.50, below the $14.67 analysts had been expecting. Comparable sales growth for the DICK’S business is projected at 2.0% to 4.0%, while pro forma comparable sales growth for the Foot Locker business is expected to come in between 1.0% and 3.0%. The consolidated top-line outlook also fell short of the Street’s consensus, which had been looking for revenue of around $21.77 billion.

The guidance shortfall is not entirely a surprise. As a major importer of footwear and apparel, largely sourced from Southeast Asia and China, DICK’S is navigating a tariff environment that remains uncertain in 2026. Analysts at Williams Trading have flagged that tariffs are expected to pressure margins and complicate pricing strategies, noting that hard goods and equipment categories — much of which is sourced from China — face particular cost headwinds. That dynamic is likely contributing to some conservatism in management’s profit forecast, even as the underlying consumer demand picture for sporting goods remains healthy.

The Foot Locker Transformation: Early Signs of Progress

The more compelling part of Thursday’s narrative is what DICK’S Sporting Goods is building with Foot Locker. Executive Chairman Ed Stack struck an optimistic tone on the acquisition, noting that the company is “encouraged by what we’re seeing” with the Fast Break initiative and the evolution of its 11-store Foot Locker pilot, which the company plans to rapidly scale in 2026, Stack also said the “clean out the garage” effort — a reference to DICK’S aggressive work to clear out unproductive inventory and reset Foot Locker’s merchandising and operations — has positioned the banner to go on offense heading into back-to-school season.

CEO Lauren Hobart pointed to a non-GAAP operating margin of over 11% for the year at the DICK’S banner and expressed confidence that the combined company is “perfectly positioned at the intersection of sport and culture.” The company replaced Foot Locker’s previous leadership team after the acquisition closed, installing Ann Freeman to lead Foot Locker North America.

Management has previously projected $100 million to $125 million in cost synergies over the medium term, primarily from procurement and direct sourcing efficiencies, and expects the acquisition to be accretive to EPS in fiscal 2026 on an adjusted basis.

Store Expansion Continues

While managing the Foot Locker integration, DICK’S is not letting up on its own store growth strategy. The company opened 16 House of Sport and 15 DICK’S Field House locations in 2025 and plans to open approximately 14 additional House of Sport stores and 22 new DICK’S Field House locations in 2026. House of Sport, DICK’S experiential retail format featuring climbing walls, batting cages, and a curated sneaker experience, has been central to the company’s effort to make its stores destinations rather than transactional spaces — a key competitive moat in an era when online alternatives continue to grow.

The Investment Case: Undervalued in Transition

For investors willing to look through the near-term noise, the setup for DKS is arguably more interesting than today’s modest stock move suggests. Analysts maintain a consensus average price target of $244.05 on the stock, with Morgan Stanley’s most recent target of $260 implying roughly 24% upside from current levels. Across 19 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is “Buy” with an average price target of $248.53, representing approximately 20% upside from current prices.

The bull case rests on several pillars: a core DICK’S business that is growing comps and expanding margins, a Foot Locker transformation that is still in its early innings but showing signs of traction, and a store expansion playbook that is differentiating the company in physical retail. The risks — tariff headwinds, integration execution, and a cautious consumer in a slowing macro environment — are real, but they appear well understood by the market at this point and may already be largely reflected in a stock trading well below its 50-day moving average of $205.69.

The company’s Board also authorized a 3% increase in the quarterly dividend to $1.25 per share, bringing the annualized rate to $5.00. That’s a signal of management’s confidence in the business’s cash generation even as integration spending remains elevated.

DICK’S Sporting Goods is, in many ways, a stock in search of a catalyst. The Foot Locker cleanup is proceeding, the core business is healthy, and the store portfolio is evolving in a differentiated direction. The market’s muted reaction today likely reflects impatience more than fundamental concern. For investors with a longer time horizon, that impatience may represent an opportunity.