What to Expect When Nike Reports on Thursday

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE | NKE Price Prediction) is scheduled to release its fiscal fourth-quarter financial results after the markets close on Thursday. The consensus estimates are calling for $0.66 in earnings per share (EPS) and $10.16 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had $0.69 in EPS and $9.79 billion in revenue.

Nike has been a dominant player in China’s $31 billion market for sportswear, but two China-based challengers, Anta and Xtep, have been boosting investments and making a dent not only in Nike’s business but in that of other foreign sports gear giants like Adidas. Both Anta and Xtep have made strategic moves into the high-end of sportswear rather than trying to build premium brands on their own.

While foreign brands like Nike remain dominant, Chinese firms may have an advantage with their larger retail and distribution networks along with a better understanding of local markets.

Obviously, Nike faced some difficulty with China earlier this summer, but it has recovered handily since then with shares up about 8% since the end of May. Excluding Wednesday’s move, Nike had underperformed the broad markets, with its stock up only 11% year to date. In the past 52 weeks, the stock was up closer to 12.5%.

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A few analysts weighed in on Nike ahead of the report:

• Goldman Sachs has a Neutral rating with an $83 price target.
• Merrill Lynch’s Underperform rating comes with a $70 target.
• Morgan Stanley has a Buy rating with a $103 price target.
• Canaccord Genuity has a Buy rating and a $96 price target.
• UBS has a Neutral rating with an $85 target price.

Shares of Nike were up about 0.8% at $83.24 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $66.53 to $90.00. The consensus price target is $92.09.
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