Nike's Direct-To-Consumer Approach, Push Into Digital Keep Stock Buy Rated At UBS

Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE) shares were seen surging Friday after a fourth-quarter earnings beat that eased some investors concerns despite lower expectations.

UBS analyst Michael Binetti said Nike management did the right thing by guiding fiscal year 2018 revenues below its long-term growth target.

UBS maintains a Buy rating on Nike.

Justification For Staying At Buy

Although international markets are trending better than expected, North American sales figures are downright alarming, with futures down 10 percent in the fourth quarter.

Nike does expect EBIT to grow in the double-digit range in FY 2018 and expects currency headwinds to diminish or even reverse over the next few quarters.

UBS believes consensus EPS revisions will likely turn positive over the near term, raising its price target from $62 to $64.

Nike’s direct-to-consumer focus and new partnership with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) appears to be well received by the investor community, as are many companies with Amazon associations.

“Nike’s clearly pushing harder to insource more volumes to its direct channel and to digital native channels — a negative read for Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL), Finish Line Inc (NASDAQ: FINL), Macy's Inc (NYSE: M), Kohl's Corporation (NYSE: KSS), and J C Penney Company (NYSE: JCP) in our coverage,” said Binetti.

“That said, while Nike’s much-anticipated launch with AMZN was described as a small pilot, our sense is that product sold on AMZN is more likely to overlap with department stores/family footwear chains than with Foot Locker and Finish Line.”

Nike shares were up over 11 percent at time of publication, seen trading last at $59.04 shortly before the close.

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Image Credit: Nike, "The Swoosh garden atop the Nike headquarters in NYC."