Needham & Company Upgrades Nike (NKE) to Buy

Needham & Company analyst Rick Patel upgraded Nike (NYSE: NKE) from Hold to Buy with a price target of $85.00.

The analyst comments "We are upgrading NKE from Hold to Buy with an $85 Price Target (28x P/E) as it’s becoming increasingly clear that strategic initiatives should enable robust sales growth and margin expansion to continue. We view the shift towards Direct as NKE's strongest sales driver as it not only improves revenue realized per unit sold, but also enables Nike to better engage customers with differentiated marketing. Concurrently, increasing focus on international growth, women’s, and the moderate wholesale channel presents an opportunity to acquire new customers. GM expansion should also be sustainable on improving manufacturing/sourcing capabilities and structural changes in the sales mix. We also see upside to our & Street estimates and see EPS power of >$4.50 in FY23; at a historic 23x P/E, this implies a >$100 stock."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Nike click here. For more ratings news on Nike click here.

Shares of Nike closed at $76.59 yesterday.

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