American sportswear company Nike is doubling down efforts to accelerate its digital business after reporting analyst-busting quarterly earnings this week.
"We know that digital is the new normal. The consumer today is digitally grounded and simply will not revert back," Nike's chief executive officer John Donahoe said.
Nike took advantage of disruptions caused by the pandemic to accelerate its digital business. Online revenues generated in China strengthen the retailer's bottom line.
Given its latest positive earnings the company has upgraded its outlook for its next fiscal year and said it expected its growth rates to be within the high single digits to low double digits. Nike's decision to issue financial guidance comes as most companies are trying to avoid it given uncertain markets.
Nike will capitalize on its rapidly growing digital footprint to increase sales in its markets worldwide. The company has seen a massive adoption of its digitization - particularly in big markets such as China.
The company's New York-listed shares were set to open Thursday EST at $126.60 each. They closed Wednesday at $127.11 for an 8.7% daily rise thanks to its latest earnings and news online sales rocketed more than 82%. The report out Tuesday saw the paper open at $130.27 a share Wednesday.
For its first fiscal quarter ended Aug. 31, Nike reported a net income of $1.52 billion, or around 95 cents a share. That was more than double the average earnings expectation of 47 cents a share for the quarter. The company reported revenues of $10.59 billion for the quarter - higher than the average forecast of $9.15 billion.
In its previous quarter it reported a drop in revenue of about 38% year over year. Nike said then that most of the loss was a result of the forced closing of its bricks-and-mortar stores worldwide during the height of the pandemic.
