Nike Zooms to Rank as Dow's Top-Performing Stock

Companies and Brands

Published: June 30, 2018 8:45 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 9:37 pm

Athletic gear maker Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) last week took over the top spot as the best performing Dow Jones industrial average stock for the year to date. The stock gained about 8.5% during the week, with more than all of that coming on Friday when the shares added nearly 11%. For the year to date, Nike stock is up 27.4%.

The second-best performer among the Dow index equities so far this year is Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), which is up 16.16%. That is followed by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), up 15.28%, Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), up 13.8%, and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), up 12.35%. Of the 30 Dow stocks, 12 have managed to post a gain to date in 2018.

The Dow experienced another tough week, dropping nearly 310 points over the course of the past week to close at 24,271.41, down about 1.3% from the previous Friday’s close. It could have been even worse. At Wednesday’s close, the Dow was down more than 450 points for the week. The index closed up less than 1% for the second quarter but down 1.8% for the first six months of 2018.

Nike’s story for the week began after the market closed on Thursday and the company reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that beat — but didn’t exactly crush — estimates.

The big news from the company was a 3% jump in U.S. sales, a sign that Nike had succeeded in growing even given a stiff challenge by a resurgent Adidas.

Investors rewarded the company by pushing the shares to an all-time high of $81.00. The stock closed Friday at $79.68, and the 52-week low is $50.35. The consensus 12-month price target on the stock is $75.24, and the forward price-to-earnings ratio is 25.46.