Nike shares surge premarket on N. American sales, outlook

Nike’s shares are soaring before the opening bell Friday, as the footwear and clothing company posted record fiscal fourth-quarter sales in North America and gave a better-than-anticipated full-year revenue forecast.

The Beaverton, Oregon-based company’s revenue totaled $12.34 billion in the fourth quarter, easily beating the $11.06 billion that analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research predicted.

In North America, Nike Inc.’s revenue soared 141% to $5.38 billion.

Nike also experienced strong sales for its namesake brand, rising 88% to $11.8 billion. Revenue for the Converse brand climbed 85% to $596 million.

Sales were also helped by increased wholesale shipments. A year earlier those shipments had been hindered by retail store closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, but many stores have since reopened over the past several months.

Online sales climbed 41% compared with a year ago and were up 147% compared with 2019’s fourth quarter.

And Nike continues to see success with its SNKRS app, which immediately sells out of new sneaker releases and consistently trends on Twitter. President and CEO John Donahoe said during a conference call that SNKRS grew more than 90% in demand and saw nearly 80% growth in monthly active users during the fourth quarter.

For the three months ended May 31, Nike moved to a profit of $1.51 billion, or 93 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Zacks expected 51 cents per share.

Looking ahead, Nike Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend said that the company anticipates fiscal 2022 revenue growth of a low double-digit percentage, topping $50 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting revenue of $48.47 billion.