Nike Q1 Profit Beats Estimates; Shares Rise Sharply in After Hours Trading (NKE)

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE), after-market close, released its first-quarter fiscal 2012 financial results. The sports goods company posted better than expected profit for the first quarter, pushing shares higher in after-hours trading.

Nike shares rose 5.37% to $88.70 in after-hours trading today. Earlier, the stock had closed 1.82% lower at $84.18 in regular trading.

For the first quarter ended August 31, 2011, Nike reported a 15% increase in profit to $645 million, or $1.36 per share. Analysts had forecast the Beaverton, Oregon-based company to report a profit of $1.21 per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2012.

The company reported an 18% increase in first-quarter revenue to $6.1 billion. Excluding the impact of changes in foreign currency, the company’s first-quarter revenue grew 12%. The company saw growth in all the regions except Western Europe, which saw flat sales due to the negative impact from changes in the timing of shipments and comparisons to strong World Cup-related sales last year.

Nike’s gross margin fell 270 basis points to 44.3% in the first quarter of fiscal 2012. The decline in gross margin was mainly due to an increase in product costs and higher mix of off-price revenues sold at lower margin than previous year. These were offset partially by the positive impact of the company’s rising sales in its Direct to Consumer operations, select pricing actions and the benefits of the continuing product cost reduction initiatives.

At the end of the first quarter, the company worldwide future orders for Nike Brand athletic footwear and apparel totaled $8.5 billion, an increase of 16% over the same period in the previous year.

Mark Parker, President and CEO of Nike, said that the company has been off to a strong start in fiscal year 2012 and that it has a powerful and diverse portfolio of brands and businesses and is focused on leveraging them to drive growth and create value for shareholders. Parker added that it pays to be prudent in the current environment and that it is also essential to remain on the offense, creating opportunities.

Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.