By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 17th, 2024
Nike reported quarterly earnings that have topped analysts’ expectations boosted by the company’s digital business and its success in North America. Nike stock is over 10% up today.
On March 24, Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE) reported its earnings that topped analysts’ expectations, its stock reacted to the news. The quarterly earnings beat expectations due to a boost that came from the company’s digital business and significant growth in North America. These developments helped mitigate weakness in China as a result of rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic.
Nike Stock Price Movement and Its Sales
Its shares gained almost 9% in premarket trading March 25 morning. And now, at the time of writing, the price of Nike stock is growing. NKE is over 10% and is trading at $80.01.
As the Dow Jones rebounded on March 24 to have its best day since 1933, Nike shares closed up by over 15%. But, the Nike stock has plunged by about 30% this year. Currently, the company has a market capitalization of around $112.6 billion.
John Donahoe, Chief Executive Officer, said that the business is starting to see a recovery in China where the pandemic started causing a period of store closures.
During the fiscal third quarter, Nike’s sales plunged by over 5% in Greater China after 22 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth. The company announced that at a peak in February, almost 75% of Nike stores in Greater China remained closed. Other stores opened only on reduced hours.
As of March 24, nonetheless, about 80% of its stores in Greater China are open according to an official Nike statement. It also confirmed that digital sales in China are nearing triple-digit growth.
The CEO said that Nike took what it learned from China and deployed a similar strategy in South Korea and Japan. He explained that the company will now do the same across Europe and in the United States.
Business Strategy
According to the learnings from China, Nike said that it now expects its impacted business to travel through three phases. It will start with a recovery period where the stores open back up. Then, a period when supply and consumer demand return to normalcy levels. Finally, a period of getting back to sales growth.
Nike announced this past Sunday that it would be closing all of its stores in New Zealand, Western Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia. It will close these locations through March 27 to try to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Nike said on March 25 that it plans to reopen the stores across Europe and North America based on a location by location basis.
Nike is currently looking at some of its designs for personal protective equipment to assist hospitals and many other health-care workers in need.
Earnings
For now, Nike has declined from offering a Q4 earnings outlook. However, it said that traffic in Greater China is considerably accelerating every week currently. In that context, it expects the region to return to growth this fiscal year. Apart from reporting an increase in third-quarter sales, Nike’s earnings fell as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The net income decreased to $847 million, or 53 cents per share, compared with $1.1 billion or 68 cents per share 12 months ago. Earnings in the latest period consisted of a 25-cent charge related to the company transitioning its businesses in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile to a different distributor model.
After adjusting for the charge, Nike topped the analysts’ estimates of 59 cents per share. Revenue increased by 5% during the quarter that ended February 29, rising to $10.1 billion from $9.6 billion a year ago. Analysts were calling for sales of $9.8 billion according to the data from Refinitiv.
Nike’s direct-to-consumer business rose 13% during the quarter. Digital sales overall were up almost 36%. Nike stated that digital sales in Greater China were up by more than 30%.
In North America, revenue grew by 4% during the first quarter due to increased strength in footwear and apparel. Sales for the Converse brand rose by 9%. Some analysts are more optimistic about Nike compared to the peers Under Armour and Adidas, particularly in these times of so much uncertainty.
Market Performance
Robert Ohmes, a Bank of America analyst, highlighted the earning reports in a research note ahead of the earnings report. He added:
“We believe Nike remains the key brand that wholesale customers shift orders to in times of distress and should also benefit from its superior sourcing capabilities, with a vertically integrated supply chain and more consolidated supplier base.”
Ohmes said that an overall challenging environment might enhance Nike’s global market share momentum.