Earnings: How's NKE Faring in the Competitive Sports Gear Market?

Nike Inc NKE opens its fiscal Q4 books after the bell Tuesday and, with its stock down 16% since the beginning of the year, investors will be carefully listening to what the athletic shoe and sportswear company has to say.

NKE, a major company involved in this summer’s Olympics in Rio, has been competing with other big performers in the athletic sports-gear market like Under Armour Inc UA and Adidas ADR ADDYY. Like these competitors, NKE might also feel the fallout from the bankruptcy closing of Sports Authority.

NKE has beat analysts’ profit estimates in the last 15 quarters. The company said on last quarter’s conference call that it was expecting to see revenue growing in mid-single digits for Q4 and the full fiscal-year.

But that doesn’t appear to be helping profits, according to some analysts. Those reporting to Thomson Reuters are estimating a per-share profit of $0.48, a penny decline from year-ago results. Revenue is projected to rise to $8.3 billion from $7.8 billion a year ago.

Short-term options traders have priced in a potential 4% share price move in either direction around the earnings release, according to the Market Maker Move indicator on the thinkorswim® trading platform by TD Ameritrade.

Ahead of earnings, some traders were active in the monthly 55- and 57-strike calls. On the put side, the weekly 53-strike puts saw some activity. Implied volatility is relatively high at the 70th percentile. (Please remember past performance is no guarantee of future results.)

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