U.S. markets open in 1 hour 52 minutes

  • S&P Futures

    3,955.25
    -18.75 (-0.47%)
     

  • Dow Futures

    33,039.00
    +22.00 (+0.07%)
     

  • Nasdaq Futures

    13,038.50
    -163.00 (-1.23%)
     

  • Russell 2000 Futures

    2,320.30
    -14.10 (-0.60%)
     

  • Crude Oil

    64.66
    +0.06 (+0.09%)
     

  • Gold

    1,731.00
    +3.90 (+0.23%)
     

  • Silver

    26.23
    +0.17 (+0.64%)
     

  • EUR/USD

    1.1945
    -0.0042 (-0.35%)
     

  • 10-Yr Bond

    1.6410
    0.0000 (0.00%)
     

  • Vix

    19.75
    -0.04 (-0.20%)
     

  • GBP/USD

    1.3964
    +0.0006 (+0.04%)
     

  • USD/JPY

    109.0750
    +0.2200 (+0.20%)
     

  • BTC-USD

    58,235.71
    +2,940.57 (+5.32%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,161.49
    +49.34 (+4.44%)
     

  • FTSE 100

    6,751.90
    -10.77 (-0.16%)
     

  • Nikkei 225

    30,216.75
    +302.42 (+1.01%)
     
COMING UP:

Another 700,000 Americans likely filed new unemployment claims for week ended March 13

Check back for results at 8:30 a.m. ET

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Nike earnings preview: The Swoosh brand looks poised for another strong quarter

Reggie Wade
·Writer
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

On Thursday after the bell, sportswear giant Nike (NKE) will report third-quarter results, and most analysts expect the Swoosh brand to post strong earnings once again. Analysts polled by Bloomberg predict Nike will report adjusted earnings per share of 75 cents on revenue of $11.008 billion.

Jay Sole of UBS expects the Swoosh brand to see growth in all geographies. “It’s going to be a good report. I think Nike is going to talk about their business continuing to bounce back from the pandemic. I think we’re going to see really strong growth in greater China — continuing rebound in the U.S. and even in Europe,” he said.

“I expect them to deliver solid growth, even though stores [in Europe] have been shut down because of government-mandated restrictions for the last three months. Despite that, I still think Nike’s going to show pretty good growth.”

John Kernan of Cowen Equity Research points to the strength of Nike’s digital platform.

“The brand is still resonating more than anything else with the Gen Z/millennial consumer, these days, and, you know, it’s on both performance and lifestyle basis, [and] their digital platform has expanded tremendously. We expect e-commerce revenue will likely be up over 50% again, year-over-year globally, and the financial model we think is poised for inflection on a margin basis into the coming years.”

Cowen has raised its price target of Nike to $173, up from $170.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 22: The Nike logo is seen on the Nike store on February 22, 2021 in New York City. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) will trade ex-dividend in the next days as NIKE's earnings have been almost flat over the past five years. (Photo by John Smith/VIEWpress via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 22: The Nike logo is seen on the Nike store on February 22, 2021 in New York City. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) will trade ex-dividend in the next days as NIKE's earnings have been almost flat over the past five years. (Photo by John Smith/VIEWpress via Getty Images)

Sam Poser of Williams Trading tells Yahoo Finance that he will be looking for the guidance the Swoosh brand gives.

“I think that’s what everybody wants to hear about, what’s coming next. How big was their direct business, what’s going on in Europe, what’s going on in China? ... What are they doing to continue to build the strength of the Nike and Jordan brands?” he said.

He expects the Swoosh brand’s guidance will err on the conservative side.

“I think the numbers are going to be pretty good. I think whatever they guide is going to prove ... conservative … I think their business is really strong. I know there’s a lot of talk about the port delays. It’s definitely impacted them to some degree, but it’s a soundbite that demand is so high that they’re making the best out of whatever they’ve got. How they guide is going to be a whole nother story,” he said.

Poser also notes that the COVID-19 pandemic pushed Nike’s plans forward by years. “I think that what the pandemic did is shift the way people shop to more digital, more different kinds of engagement. I think that is here to stay. A lot of people we’ve talked to said that their plans for direct to consumer during the pandemic were pushed forward, like three to five years in six months … Now, when [Nike CEO John] Donahoe was hired, that was pre-pandemic. He is the guy at the helm now. He was hired to be there for this direction that the company is going in and all of that happened faster.”

Reggie Wade is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @ReggieWade.

Read more:

Recommended Stories

  • Why Analysts Say Buying Nike Stock Is a No Brainer Right Now

    “We believe Nike is on a solid path to generating high teens EBIT margins as the digital acceleration strategy gains further traction," said analyst Camilo Lyon.

  • Wall Street closes higher after Fed says will keep rates low

    Stocks closed higher Wednesday, reversing an early slide after the Federal Reserve reassured Wall Street that it expects to keep its key interest rate near zero through 2023. Wall Street has been anxious about the potential for higher inflation to drive up bond yields further and has been looking for signs that the central bank shares its concerns. Fed Chair Jerome Powell's remarks during a news conference appeared to do the trick.

  • Wall Street Is Growing More Excited Ahead of Nike Earnings This Week

    (NKE) is scheduled to report earnings after the bell Thursday, and analysts are bullish about the athletic giant’s quarter. Nike (NKE) was a major winner in 2020, and several analysts have expressed optimism about the results amid that momentum. “If anyone can navigate the volatile backdrop, it’s Nike,” she wrote, expecting that the company “will shine as it reports upside” and could deliver a better-than-expected outlook for its recovering North American business.

  • Citi Trends Inc (CTRN) Q4 2020 Earnings Call Transcript

    CTRN earnings call for the period ending January 30, 2021.

  • Consumers have 'substantial ammunition' to spend: analyst

    Deutsche Bank strikes an upbeat tone on the outlook for consumer spending, even as February retail sales massively underwhelmed.

  • Nike Gets a Higher Price Target Before Earnings

    Cowen & Co. argues that concerns about ongoing store closures in Europe and supply disruptions in North America are overblown, and that strength in digital sales and in China will remain strong drivers.

  • Plug Power Rocked by Accounting Errors After Its 1,400% Surge

    (Bloomberg) -- Plug Power Inc.’s accounting errors sent shares of the fuel-cell maker plunging on Wednesday.The Latham, New York-based company, which soared more than 1,400% in the past year through Tuesday, tumbled about 8%. Despite the selloff, Plug Power is still up about 16% in 2021 -- compared with an advance of almost 6% for the S&P 500 Index. Its industry counterparts Ballard Power Systems Inc. and FuelCell Energy Inc. erased Wednesday’s losses and closed in the green.Plug Power said it found accounting errors in results for 2018, 2019 and the first three quarters of 2020, but Chief Executive Officer Andy Marsh noted that the mistakes didn’t affect the underlying business. The disclosure was still a setback for the firm, which has struck a series of partnerships with companies such as Renault SA and South Korea’s SK Group. It also came at a time when growth stocks have been hit by the climb in bond yields. The WilderHill Clean Energy Index is up about 1% this year, following a surge of more than 200% in 2020.“Anytime a company needs to restate results, investors shoot first and ask questions later,” said Jeffrey Osborne, a New York-based analyst at Cowen, who maintained a buy-equivalent rating, with a price target of $75 for the shares.At the Roth Capital Partners annual conference Wednesday, Marsh said the company in 2018 adopted accounting methods for lease-back agreements after consulting with outside firms, and those methods passed muster with Plug Power’s auditors for the next two years. But its auditors have since decided the accounting needs to change, according to him.“In these emerging industries, when you’re the first one to do anything, as Plug Power is, accounting can certainly be tricky, because there’s no model you can look at and say ‘I’m going to do it like the company down the street does it,’” Marsh said. He acknowledged Tuesday’s announcement was “surprising and disappointing for investors.”Plug Power has successfully raised capital in the last year, though its forward revenue targets could face headwinds as competition looms, according to Peter McNally, global head for industrials, materials and energy at Third Bridge Group in New York. B. Riley’s Christopher Souther sees a buying opportunity for Plug Power, while Truist Securities downgraded Plug to a hold recommendation.“Following these disclosures, we expect limited opportunity for outperformance in the near-term,” Truist Securities’ analysts said in a note to clients. “While the company reiterated long-term targets and the accounting issues appear transitory in nature, we see limited upside until resolution.”It isn’t the first time a major fuel-cell stock has been rocked by accounting errors. Last March, Bloom Energy Corp. tumbled to $3 per share from more than $14 earlier in the year after restating its revenue downward for 2018 and 2019. The stock quickly recovered and soared to $42.65 last month before pulling back.See more: Clean Tech Valuations Are Wildly Out of Sync With Company ProfitInvestors piled into alternative energy stocks leading into President Joe Biden’s victory, and are now facing concern over high-flying valuations. Hydrogen, which can be generated and used without producing greenhouse gases, has been touted as an alternative form of energy, while some participants remain unconvinced. Carlyle International Energy Partners recently called hydrogen power a “bubble.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Stocks cheer dovish Fed as bond rumblings return

    World share markets edged higher on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve promised to keep its support in place, though another rise in global bond yields and the dollar showed not everyone was convinced. MSCI's 50-country world index was near record highs after the Fed, which had also predicted bumper U.S. growth, had lifted Wall Street and Asia overnight [.N], and Europe opened with Germany's DAX at a record high. For traders worried about it all being snuffed out by rising borrowing costs, though, euro zone government bond yields were already tracking upward moves in benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries as they climbed to a 13-month high of 1.74%.

  • National Grid Makes $11 Billion Deal in Move to Green Future

    (Bloomberg) -- National Grid Plc agreed to buy PPL Corp.’s U.K. electricity distribution business for 7.8 billion pounds ($10.9 billion), a move that will transform the company as it prepares for a low-carbon future.The biggest U.K. utilities transaction in a decade highlights how crucial grids have become as nations figure out how to navigate the shift to electricity from fossil fuels.Distribution grids, the local networks that feed directly into homes and businesses, are at the heart of the energy transition. Smart homes with electric heating systems, as many as 30 million electric cars, and small scale renewable generation will all be connected to local grids in the coming decades.“This makes an awful lot of sense for the U.K, and National Grid in terms of the energy transition,” chief executive officer John Pettigrew said in an interview. “We believe that the growth that we’re likely to see in the distribution sector is going to be stronger and more certain and longer than other elements of the energy sector.”In a separate deal, the network manager agreed to sell the Narragansett Electric Company in the U.S. to PPL for an equity value of $3.8 billion. National Grid also announced it intends to sell its majority stake in its gas grid business later this year.The WPD sale drew interest from a wide-range of companies. The government’s climate pledges are what’s attracting investors to distribution grids, according to Randolph Brazier, director of innovation and electricity systems at the Energy Networks Association.“Ultimately, it’s driven by net zero,” he said. “Because people are connecting all these new technologies to the distribution grid.”Local network businesses are about digitalization, decarbonization, and decentralization. They’re all underpinned by net zero, he said.Completion of the WPD deal, which will be funded with bridge financing through debt, is expected within the next four months and completion of the NECO Sale is expected before the end of the first quarter of 2022. National Grid said it plans to start the sale process of its gas unit in the second half of this year.Once the deals complete, the National Grid portfolio will be 70% electricity, 30% gas, Pettigrew said. The fossil fuel is quickly becoming the next target of climate policies aimed at effectively eliminating emissions by 2050 in the U.K.Western Power provides electricity to more than 7.9 million U.K. customers in the Midlands, South West and Wales.National Grid has a commitment to reach net zero for scope one and two emissions. It plans to cut scope three emissions, on the energy carried through its networks to customers, by 20% by 2030 from a 2016 baseline.Reducing the carbon in the fuel carried in its gas network is possible through hydrogen. The utility is currently looking at how it can switch from piping natural gas through its networks to clean burning hydrogen to heat homes.“We view the transaction as a positive step for National Grid,” John Musk, analyst at RBC Europe Ltd said in a note. Adding that the market will need time “to digest” the deal.Shares fell 1.9% to 815 pence a share by 9:25 a.m. in London.(Updates with charts and context throughout)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Nokia sees pick up in margins as turnaround takes shape

    Telecoms equipment maker Nokia is forecasting a pick up in profit margins to 10-13% in 2023, as new CEO Pekka Lundmark charts a course to catch up with rivals in the race to deliver 5G networks. Lundmark, who took the helm in August, has introduced a new operating model with four business groups, cut his leadership team to 11 from 17 and plans to reduce employee numbers by up to 10,000 in the next two years. Nokia currently has around 90,000 employees after thousands of job losses in the last few years.

  • Credit Suisse CEO Gottstein earns less than predecessor Thiam

    Credit Suisse Chief Executive Thomas Gottstein earned less than predecessor Tidjane Thiam in his first year in the role, the bank's annual report showed on Thursday, as the bank was hit in 2020 by a slew of legal and impairment headaches and as bonuses were also impacted by higher anticipated credit losses. Gottstein, who became head of the bank last February after Thiam's abrupt departure, was granted 8.53 million Swiss francs ($9.24 million) in total compensation. Gottstein has been trying to move Credit Suisse on from a string of bad headlines, spanning a spy scandal that ousted predecessor Thiam to a $450 million write-down on a hedge fund investment.

  • Oil's decline continues as inventories rise, demand recovery clouded

    Oil prices declined for a fifth consecutive session on Thursday falling around 1% after official data showed a further increase in U.S. crude and fuel inventories, while the ever-present pandemic clouded the prospects for a demand recovery. Brent crude was down 74 cents, or 1.1%, at $67.26 a barrel by 0745 GMT after dropping 0.6% on Wednesday. U.S. oil was also down 65 cents, or 1%, at $63.95 a barrel, having fallen 0.3% the previous session.

  • Apollo SPAC and Vista Halt $15 Billion Merger Talks

    (Bloomberg) -- One of this year’s biggest blank-check mergers has been put on ice amid tremors in technology stocks and broader market volatility.Vista Equity Partners’ negotiations to merge three of its companies with acquisition firm Apollo Strategic Growth Capital in a $15 billion transaction have been halted, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public. It isn’t clear when or if talks will be revived.The talks centered on a merger featuring Vista’s Solera Holdings Inc., DealerSocket Inc. and Omnitracs. The halt comes after the Nasdaq Composite Index of more than 3,000 tech-related stocks has fallen 4% since Feb. 12 and posted three weekly declines in that span. It’s still up 4.9% this year.Amid a boom in issuance involving new SPACs and private investments in public equity, or PIPEs, some recent SPAC mergers have met a tepid response from investors. Cerberus Telecom Acquisition Corp. and Motion Acquisition Corp. closed Wednesday below the traditional SPAC IPO price of $10, after announcing mergers last week.Bloomberg reported the expanded deal involving the trio of technology companies that service the auto industry earlier this month.Representatives of Apollo and Vista declined to comment. Apollo Strategic Growth Capital, led by Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Patel, raised $817 million in an initial public offering last year. The blank-check company’s shares closed at $10.12 on Wednesday, giving it a market value of about $1 billion.(Updates with new detail in first paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Dow ends above 33,000 for first time after Fed signals no interest rate hikes through 2023

    U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday, shrugging off earlier losses, after Federal Reserve policy makers said no interest rate hikes were expected through 2023, even if inflation overshoots 2%.

  • The Node: Bitcoin Is ‘Digital Gold’ Because People Say It Is

    Software firm Meitu, which just bought more ETH and BTC, points to the meta-nature of modern investing driven by consensus opinions.

  • Biggest Bitcoin Fund Provider to Offer Different Crypto Trusts

    (Bloomberg) -- Grayscale Investments LLC, the company behind the world’s largest Bitcoin fund, is offering new trusts to invest specifically in five different cryptocurrencies.The trusts are delving into still-niche corners of the cryptocurrency universe. Three of the funds will invest individually in the cryptocurrencies Chainlink, Filecoin and Livepeer. One will hold Basic Attention tokens that run on the Ethereum network, while the fifth will invest in coins of the virtual-reality world known as Decentraland.The trusts are the crypto giant’s first since early 2019, and come after a “robust process” of assessing potential investor demand as well as the integrity of the underlying protocols, according to Grayscale Chief Executive Officer Michael Sonnenshein.“At any one time, we’re probably maintaining a list of what could be 30 products, could be 40 products that we’re interested in bringing to market,” Sonnenshein said in an interview. “We’re trying to always reconcile where we may find compelling opportunities in the digital assets ecosystem and trying to reconcile where investors are interested in deploying capital.”The new products bring Grayscale’s total single-asset lineup to 13, with the $34 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (ticker GBTC) the largest.With Bitcoin’s price hitting new highs, an increasing number of investors may be hesitant to jump in, fearing they’d be getting in at the top of the market. Other coins Grayscale selected have much smaller market values, and some investors may see them as a more attractive entry point right now.Basic Attention tokens track users’ time and attention on digital properties, as a way to determine how to distribute advertising money. Chainlink -- whose token is also Ethereum based -- has a technology that essentially delivers price feeds into various decentralized-finance apps.Meanwhile, Filecoin is a data storage protocol in which users pay to store their files, while Livepeer is billed as a decentralized content delivery network. Lastly, the Decentraland Trust will hold MANA tokens, which can be used to buy virtual plots of land in Decentraland.“There are many Grayscale products that have historically been a little bit before their time, before they began to resonate with investors sufficiently,” Sonnenshein said.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Baidu Raises $3.1 Billion From Second Listing in Hong Kong

    (Bloomberg) -- Chinese search engine Baidu Inc. raised HK$23.9 billion ($3.1 billion) in its Hong Kong share sale, sealing the latest in a string of blockbuster equity offerings in the financial hub.The company priced its sale of 95 million shares at HK$252 each, according to a filing Wednesday. That represents a nearly 3% discount to Baidu’s Tuesday closing price in New York of $266.78.One of Baidu’s American depositary shares is equal to eight of the ordinary shares being listed in Hong Kong.Nasdaq-listed Baidu follows online car-sales website Autohome Inc. in seeking a trading foothold in Hong Kong, after a wave of such share sales in 2020 which saw some $17 billion raised. Other companies looking at selling shares in the city include Tencent Music Entertainment Group and video site Bilibili Inc.At $3.1 billion, Baidu’s listing is the biggest such homecoming of a U.S.-traded Chinese company in Hong Kong since NetEase Inc.’s June 2020 offering, which raised HK$24.3 billion. A growing cohort of Chinese firms have been seeking to expand their investor bases closer to home amid deteriorating relations between the world’s two biggest economies.The trend has boosted the listing volumes for Hong Kong’s bourse, which now has a growing contingent of technology firms trading in the city. Globally, initial public offerings are on track for a record first quarter, thanks to a U.S.-led boom in blank-check companies, even as volatility has increased in markets following concerns about rising inflation.Once one of China’s tech leaders, Baidu is now playing catch-up as the country’s internet users increasingly shift from desktop to mobile. In recent years the company has spent billions of dollars in areas such as language learning and autonomous driving, betting on smart devices and vehicles of the future.Bank of America Corp., CLSA Ltd. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are joint sponsors of the offering, while China International Capital Corp., UBS Group AG and CCB International Holdings Ltd. are joint global coordinators. Baidu’s shares are due to start trading in Hong Kong on March 23, according to Wednesday’s statement.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • By one key measure, Alibaba is no longer China’s largest e-commerce company

    In China, an e-commerce David is gradually overtaking the country’s Goliath. Yesterday (March 17), Alibaba’s e-commerce rival Pinduoduo announced it had surpassed the tech giant in one area: annual active user numbers. Its annual active buyers, or those who make at least one purchase, reached 788.4 million in 2020, just ahead of Alibaba’s 779 million.

  • Griddy to Cancel Texas Power Bills If Customers Don’t Sue

    (Bloomberg) -- Griddy Energy LLC has one final deal for Texans before the power seller shuts down for good: if its 29,000 former customers agree not to sue, the company will cancel electric bills that were about 300 times normal amid last month’s winter storm.On its first day in bankruptcy court, Griddy lawyers outlined a plan to liquidate, settle with customers and, possibly, arrange lawsuits against those that the company blames for its collapse. The company also won court permission to pay its remaining employees and other routine bills while the Chapter 11 case goes forward.U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur called Griddy’s bankruptcy proposal “unique and really unprecedented.” Isgur, who has overseen some of the biggest corporate restructurings filed in recent years, pushed Griddy to ensure that customers understand how the bankruptcy case will affect their huge electric bills after first criticizing Griddy’s attempt to pay one of its lenders as the case goes forward.Customers face an average bill of about $1,100 because of the winter storm that sent power prices surging, Isgur said. If Griddy wants to cancel those charges in exchange for customers dropping potential lawsuits, the company must clearly let people know that before they vote on the proposal, Isgur said. Customers will be considered creditors who have a right to vote on the liquidation plan before Isgur decides whether to approve it.“This is a difficult case,” Isgur said. “I really am worried that we handle it properly.”Surging PricesGriddy filed for bankruptcy on Monday, blaming its woes on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which runs the state’s power grid. During the storm, Ercot, as it is known, pushed up wholesale power prices dramatically under rules Texas lawmakers have adopted that deregulated much of the state’s electric industry over the course of several decades. Griddy was barred from the state’s power markets in late February after failing to make a payment.Griddy charged wholesale prices instead of fixed ones. Knowing that rate structure would mean massive bills for its customers as power prices climbed, the company made the unusual move of pleading with them to switch to another provider in mid-February. Some customers who didn’t switch in time were stuck with bills for thousands of dollars.Isgur told the main lawyer suing Griddy on behalf of customers that the company deserves some credit for making that effort.“I’m not seeing someone here that set out to do something wrong,” Isgur said of the company. “But I may have someone here who may have done something wrong. It is way too early to make that determination.”Griddy will try to win final approval for its liquidation plan from Isgur within 85 days, Robin Spigel of Baker Botts said in court on behalf of the power company.One option being considered is to hire an administrator who would decide whether to file lawsuits to try to collect money that would go to Griddy’s creditors, Spigel said.The case is Griddy Energy LLC, 21-30923, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (Houston). To view the docket on Bloomberg Law, click here.(Updates with customer vote on liquidation plan in fourth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Steeper and higher: U.S. bond tantrum averted, but worries remain

    Markets may be less fearful of a “taper tantrum” after the Federal Reserve's latest meeting, but the prospect of higher yields and a steeper yield curve is likely to remain a major focus for investors. Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday pledged to keep rates at record lows for years to come, despite expectations of a sharp acceleration in growth and inflation this year as the COVID-19 crisis ebbs. For investors concerned that rising yields would continue disrupting some areas of the stock market by dimming the allure of sectors such as technology, the Fed’s comments came as a relief.