Nike's (NKE 0.99%) shares reached a record high this week, after the athletic apparel and footwear giant's fiscal first-quarter results beat Wall Street's expectations.
Nike's revenue rose 7% year over year to $10.7 billion. Excluding the impact of foreign currency movements, revenue increased by 10%.
Growth in the company's international segments was particularly strong. Nike's Europe, Middle East, and Africa segment saw revenue rise 12%. Its Asia Pacific and Latin America segment delivered 13% growth. Sales in China, meanwhile, surged 27%.
Image source: Getty Images.
"Our strong start to FY20 highlighted the depth and balance of Nike's complete offense," Chairman and CEO Mark Parker said in a press release. "Nike's strong product innovation, combined with our industry-leading digital experiences, continue[s] to deepen our consumer relationships around the world."
Better still, Nike is becoming more profitable as it expands. Higher average selling prices helped gross margin improve by 1.5 percentage points to 45.7%. Higher profits at the company's e-commerce sites and Nike-branded retail stores also contributed to the gains.
All told, Nike's net income jumped 25% to $1.4 billion. The company's earnings per share, which were boosted by stock buybacks, leapt 28% to $0.86. Analysts had expected EPS of only $0.70.
Looking ahead
Despite trade tensions between the U.S. and China and slowing economic growth in many areas of the world, Nike's leadership is optimistic that the company can continue to deliver strong results in the coming quarters.
"Our targeted strategic investments are accelerating Nike's digital transformation and extending our competitive advantage," CFO Andy Campion said. "Even amid the increasingly volatile macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, we expect our unrelenting focus on better serving the consumer to continue fueling strong, broad-based growth across our global portfolio."
As such, Nike's stock appears likely to hit more new highs in the days and months ahead.
