This article originally appeared as part of ongoing coverage in our premium Motley Fool Stock Advisor service ... we hope you enjoy this complimentary peek!
What's happening?
Shares of Nike (NKE 0.48%), the world's largest footwear and athletic apparel company, have gained nearly 11% today following the release of a blowout fiscal first-quarter earnings report.
Why it's happening
Nike's quarterly revenue of $7.98 billion showed 15% year-over-year growth for the top line and also ran well ahead of the analyst consensus of $7.8 billion. However, Nike's bottom-line earnings of $1.09 per share was what really knocked it out of the park, as analysts had expected $0.88 per share. Nike had boasted a two-year streak (that's eight consecutive quarters) of surpassing EPS expectations coming into its latest earnings report, but the magnitude of the outperformance yesterday caught the market by surprise. Analyst expectations might have been a bit too modest, as Nike's EPS in the year-ago quarter was $0.86 -- yesterday's result works out to 27% year-over-year growth.
The company's filing boasts that every product type, category, and geographical sales area saw growth in the quarter, with the exception of action sports and golf. Western Europe -- Nike's second-largest geographical market by total sales -- was the first quarter's standout region: sales there grew by 32% overall from the same quarter of 2013, led by 36% growth in shoe sales. North American sales rose by 12%, and Chinese sales grew by 18%. Nike's weakest growth rates were found in Japan, which is its smallest geographical market by total sales. Japanese consumers spent only 1% more on Nike in the past quarter than they did a year ago, which was reduced from a 4% growth rate after accounting for currency exchange.
Futures orders, which represent goods scheduled for delivery through the next two fiscal quarters and can serve as a rough proxy for coming sales growth, were up 11% overall, with North America, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe all reporting double-digit percentage growth in these planned shipments.
