April 28, 2024

Nike Posts Strong Sales and Orders in Latest Quarter

Worldwide orders for the Nike brand, a closely watched measure of demand in coming months, grew 13 percent to 8.9 billion at the end of the quarter.

In China, orders scheduled for delivery from December 2011 through April 2012 rose 31 percent, with a 12 percent rise in other emerging markets.

In November, Nike’s rival Adidas raised its sales outlook on strong demand in emerging markets, and Puma said in October that China and Latin America contributed most to overall sales growth.

But for Nike, orders rose 16 percent even in North America, and were up in all other markets except Japan.

“The brand continues to show very strong demand,” said Matt Arnold, consumer discretionary analyst for Edward Jones. “The strength is just impressive, helping propel the stock higher.” The company said margins dropped 2.6 percentage points as costs of labor and raw materials rose, but came in more or less in line with what most analysts had expected.

“Margins were pretty consistent with what we were looking for. Any time you see a brand that is witnessing this type of demand, it gives you confidence that, over time, pricing will be able to catch up with input costs and labor costs,” Mr. Arnold said.

For the quarter ended Nov. 30, the second of Nike’s fiscal year, it earned $469 million, or $1 a share, a rise of 3 percent over the year-ago quarter. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 97 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose 18 percent to $5.73 billion.

Excluding foreign exchange fluctuations, revenue for the Nike brand rose 18 percent. The company, which also owns the Converse, Cole Haan, Umbro and Hurley brands, said revenue from these segments increased 5 percent. Nike shares were up 2.4 percent at $96.07 in after-market trade on Tuesday, after closing at $93.63.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=35861ab0062d7655d008855abefb57db