Nike, Inc. (NKE) Reports Third-Quarter Results

Sports apparel and footwear maker, Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE), reported its third-quarter results on Wednesday. The company reported a profit in its third-quarter, which was ahead of estimates. The earnings upside was driven by fewer clearance sales and an improvement in sales across the globe.

Nike, which is getting ready for the year’s biggest sporting event, the soccer World Cup in South Africa, which starts in June, expects that sales will receive a boost this year after a sluggish 2009, which saw business slow down not only in mature markets but also fast growing ones like China.

For the third-quarter, Nike reported net income of $496 million, or $1.01 per share, which is twice the $244 million, or $0.50 per share in profit it reported last year. The average analyst estimate was of $0.89 per share. The company saw its revenue increase 7% to $4.7 billion. North America, which is Nike’s biggest market, saw revenue increase by 1%, while revenue in Central and Eastern Europe saw a drop of 8%. Revenue in China saw an impressive 10% growth, while Japanese revenue fell 7%. The company reported a 43% increase in revenue in emerging markets.

On constant currency basis, the company saw a 6% increase in future orders, which is ahead of analysts’ estimate. Thomas Shaw, analyst at Stfel Nicolaus, said, "That's the first thing people look at as a headline. That's strong and that's putting them ahead of the direction that Puma and Adidas, their two biggest competitors, were indicating sales would be for 2010."

Nike, Inc. shares were up 3.26% to $73.19 in after-hours trading at 5.26 p.m. in New York.