Retail

Can Nike Vault This Next Earnings Report?

Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) is set to report earnings on Thursday after the market closes. This will be the first quarter for its fiscal 2015 year. Following the end of the World Cup, it would seem as though this athletic apparel giant should be expecting more strong numbers heading its way.

Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $0.88 in earnings per share and $7.83 billion in revenues. This would compare to the same quarter in the previous year which had $0.86 in earnings per share and $6.97 in revenues. Estimates for the coming quarter are $0.66 in earnings per share and $7.07 billion in revenues.

One issue that investors may take up with Nike at some point is the newest of the DJIA component’s forward valuations. Nike trades at almost 24-times expected current year earnings and just over 20-times expected earnings for the next fiscal year ahead.

Nike has been implementing a share repurchasing program that had recently totaled at 51.9 million shares for $3.4 billion, at the end of the previous quarter. This repurchase plan has been helpful continuing to add value to the shares and likely adding support under the stock price.

At the same time Nike is facing some difficulty for its advertising department on the NFL front. The company recently suspended its contracts with, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and Raven’s running back Ray Rice. Even though Nike has taken the moral high-ground and chosen not to support these players, it risks losing part of the benefit of being a major NFL sponsor – the average viewing for an NFL game is roughly 17 million viewers.

Nike has seen its shares steadily rise over the course of this quarter ahead of this earnings report, but in the few days before the report the stock has fallen only slightly. The company has been near all-time highs recently and at the rate this stock is moving it could be quick to press up on these highs again.

With about two hours left in regular trading on Wednesday, company’s shares were up 0.35% at $80.40. The consensus price target is $86.52 and the 52-week trading range was $68.74 to $82.79. It has a market cap of roughly $70 billion.

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