(Reuters) – Nike Inc’s
Shares of the company were up 12.6% at $131.6 in premarket trading.
The brand’s digital sales, especially in North America, helped offset fall in sales at traditional brick-and-mortar stores due to COVID-19 restrictions and social-distancing measures.
At least seven brokerages raised their 12-month price targets on the stock with the biggest bump coming from Jefferies analysts, who raised their target to $117 from $95.
Jefferies analyst Randal Konik said that improvement in North America is the “biggest positive surprise” from Nike’s results, and expects the Beaverton, Oregon-based company to do well in the long term, as consumers focus more on health and wellness.
Nike’s results should come as a relief to investors after the company, just a quarter ago, reported a surprise loss of $790 million as retailers canceled orders and people kept away from Nike stores in key markets including North America, Europe and China.
“Nike offered its clearest signal yet that a higher digital mix and improving margins within the digital segment will push consolidated margins above historical levels,” Credit Suisse analyst Michael Binetti said.
(Reporting by Aakash Jagadeesh Babu and Aniruddha Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
