Under Armour surges as much as 7% after Raymond James upgrade

• Under Armour shares jumped Wednesday after Raymond James upgraded its rating of the stock.
• The sportswear company confirmed this month it was under investigation for its past accounting practices.
• The Wall Street Journal reported this month that authorities were looking into whether Under Armour had manipulated its quarterly sales to appear stronger.
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Under Armour shares jumped Wednesday after Raymond James upgraded its rating of the stock, which has fallen sharply since the sportswear company confirmed it was under investigation for its past accounting practices.

The financial services firm lifted Under Armour to a "strong buy" from "outperform," predicting that product sales and infrastructure would allow it to grow earnings 40% through 2023. It kept its price target for the Baltimore based-company at $30.

On Wednesday, shares of Under Armour rose as much as 7.4% to $19.39.

The company has faced a wave of negative headlines this year, saying in early November that it had been cooperating in probes by the Justice Department and the Securities Exchange Commission that date back to 2017.

The Wall Street Journal reported this month that authorities were looking into whether Under Armour had manipulated its quarterly sales to appear stronger. A spokesperson said in a subsequent statement that the company "firmly believes its accounting practices and related disclosures were appropriate."

Raymond James said investors expected minimal impact from the criminal probe.

"This falls in line with our view for this event to largely be immaterial and unrelated to the fundamental story for an inflection in the business in spring 2020," the financial services firm said, according to CNBC.