Reuters: Global Markets: Nike profit tops Wall Street estimates, shares rise

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Nike profit tops Wall Street estimates, shares rise Mar 21st 2013, 21:56 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Lululemon says pants recall could dent profit by $40 million 2:28pm EDT KB Home to ramp up growth amid strong housing recovery 2:16pm EDT FedEx cuts forecast as air freight weakness hits profit Wed, Mar 20 2013 Carnival cuts profit, revenue forecasts as incidents mount Fri, Mar 15 2013 Apparel retailer Express off to slow start in first-quarter, shares down Wed, Mar 13 2013 Related Topics Hot Stocks » Asian Markets » Nike shoes are displayed at a Niketown store in Beverly Hills, California, March 16, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson Thu Mar 21, 2013 4:56pm EDT (Reuters) - Nike Inc (NKE.N) on Thursday posted a quarterly profit that handily beat Wall Street's expectations and said future demand for its apparel and shoes rose, sending its shares up 8 percent. Orders for Nike-branded shoes and clothing scheduled for delivery from March through July 2013, known as futures orders, rose 6 percent compared to orders reported for the same period last year. In North America, the company's biggest market, orders were up 11 percent. "That is phenomenal", said Paul Swinand, retail analyst with Morningstar. Swinand said one of the biggest challenges for the company is to grow in its more mature markets and the strong demand in North America shows it is able to do that. Nike also posted its first growth in gross margins in around two years, with margins rising 30 basis points in the quarter. High costs of raw material and labor pressured the company's margins over the past couple of years and Nike had been fighting it by raising price tags on its merchandise. "Gross margin benefited from the combination of pricing actions and easing material costs, which more than offset higher labor costs," the company said. For the third quarter ended February 28, the company earned $662 million, or 73 cents a share, compared with $569 million, or 61 cents a share last year. Analysts, on average, expected earnings of 67 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue rose 9 percent to $6.2 billion. Shares of the Beaverton, Oregon-based company rose to $57.93 Thursday in extended trade. They closed at $53.60 on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Chicago; Editing by Bernard Orr) Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints Comments (0) This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.

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