Amer Sports (AS 1.30%) surely won some new fans over the past few days, thanks to its impressive first-quarter performance. In the wake of those figures being published the stock was vaulting 20% higher week to date as of Thursday evening, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Few fouls in the first quarter

Amer, which owns something of a grab bag of sporting goods brands that includes Arc'teryx and Louisville Slugger, unveiled its first-quarter results well before market open on Tuesday.

Image source: Getty Images.

For the period, the company booked revenue of $1.47 billion, which was a sturdy 23% higher on a year-over-year basis. Better, it nearly tripled its non-IFRS (adjusted) net income over that one-year stretch, to just over $148 million ($0.27 per share) from first quarter 2024's $50 million.

This meant a beat-and-raise quarter for Amer, as the company's revenue and profitability topped the consensus analyst estimates, and management cranked its guidance higher.

In the hours and days following the earnings release, what felt like a baseball team-sized pack of analysts raised their price targets on Amer's shares.

One of the many was UBS' Jay Sole, who made quite a substantial increase in his to $50 per share, well up from his preceding $37, and maintained a buy recommendation.

According to reports Sole believes the stock is being shunned due to its relatively high dependence on the Chinese market; however, it's managing to grow robustly and should continue doing so. The analyst is modeling a 17% sales rise over the next year, and a compound annual growth rate of 30% through 2029.

Oldies but goodies

It isn't easy to coax growth out of fairly mature brands, so Amer's management deserves its flowers for this success. I think it's entirely realistic to believe the team has the ability to keep notching wins like we saw in the first quarter, and given that I'd certainly consider its stock a strong buy candidate.