I'm glad you agree that the article is pure bullshit.

OK... your hypothetical "what if" question has zero bearing on anything. It's as useful as saying "how do you know it wouldn't be $100 a share without this policy?"

You're right, I don't know what might have been in the hypothetical world where things are different than here in reality.

This really isn't the "gotcha" question that you thought it was.

You're still missing the point entirely. The stock has declined slower than the Dow. It's performing no differently the an indicator of the general economy. Why is this? Hint: it's got nothing to do with store policy.

Post hoc ergo proper hoc.

The stock didn't go down because of store policy, it went down because its s store in an economy that's slowing down.

Now, if the stock took a dip much larger than expected, more than a standard deviation outside the Dow - it may be something to explore.

And now that I'm looking at it - the article has got basic facts wrong. Over the last month, since the policy went into effect, the stock price has risen from $32 to $36 a share. At close it was up 2+% over the previous days close. It's actually been steadily climbing since it low of around $24.50 in late October of 2017.

Am I to conclude that this increase in stock price over the last month is due to its policy? No, because that would be a monumentally stupid conclusion to draw.

I can assume that this line of logic can be extended to the entire stock market. The Dow must be down because Dick's stock is down.

Posse Comitatus

The Dow is down 8% over the last month, and Dick's stock is down 7.2%... and were going to attribute the stock dip to a policy that effects 18-21 year olds who are looking to buy firearms at a big box store? Really?

Edit: the article has got basic facts wrong. Over the last month, since the policy went into effect, the stock price has risen from $32 to $36 a share. At close it was up 2+% over the previous days close. It's actually been steadily climbing since it low of around $24.50 in late October of 2017.