(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Behold the power of the home-court win. Nike Inc.’s fourth-quarter earnings showed revenue at its North America division rose a robust 7 percent from a year earlier to $4.17 billion, powered by strong growth in sneaker sales. The gain, which exceeded analysts’ expectations, helped offset an earnings-per-share miss that prompted an initial after-hours drop in the stock, from which it recovered.
It was an important moment for Nike to show strength in its core market. When the athletic apparel giant had reported third-quarter results back in March, investors punished the stock in part due to weaker-than-expected growth in North America. At the time, executives had sought to assure analysts that challenges there – particularly in the apparel category – reflected the timing of product launches. They said they hadn’t seen any worrisome signals about consumer demand for their clothing in North America.
The upbeat results reported Thursday in that segment, and in that geographic region overall, help make the case that Nike’s brand remains quite healthy in this important market.
We had gotten earlier cues that this might be a solid quarter for Nike in North America. In May, Kohl’s Corp. had called out Nike (and its competitors Under Armour Inc. and Adidas AG) for driving a robust “mid-single-digit” increase in active-wear sales in the quarter – a bright spot in otherwise dismal results for the department store. Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. executives said during a May earnings conference call the company was “very pleased” with its Nike business.
The results add to evidence that Nike should remain a rare place of calm during a stormy moment for the clothing business, a place where sales remain healthy even as margin-eating discounts bring pain to other corners of the industry and as retailers’ woes force some to close stores.
It’s true that the potential for new tariffs of $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, including clothes and shoes, could rattle the entire U.S. apparel business. But at least Nike will be weathering that challenge, should the levies be enacted, from a position of strength.
A couple of years ago, I was worried that Nike was starting to lose some of its product-development magic. It seemed to be struggling to react to cooling interest in basketball shoes and straining to fight back against encroachment from red-hot Adidas. But it appears that Nike’s recent efforts to speed and revamp its innovation pipeline are paying off, with offerings such as VaporMax and Air Max Dia getting a favorable reception from shoppers.
That should help Nike hold its own not just at home, but in crucial growth markets such as China. And other types of product innovation, such as in its sports-bra lineup, should help it continue to make inroads with women shoppers – an important pillar of its near-term growth plans.
All of that should complement the difficult work Nike has done to reshape its wholesale presence and lure shoppers to its membership program and SNKRS app.
Nike has put some serious sweat into making sure it can continue to grow at home even as malls struggle and the athleisure trend wanes. This quarter it showed the hustle is paying off.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Sarah Halzack is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the consumer and retail industries. She was previously a national retail reporter for the Washington Post.
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