Nike Financial Analysis Essay

Nike  is a company that has thoroughly embedded itself into the psyche of people around the world. It’s a company that started with humble origins from selling footwear in the basement to becoming the behemoth in the athletic industry. Bill Bowerman, University of Oregon track ; field coach, and Phil Knight, middle-distance runner under Bowerman co-founded Nike. Nike was first established as Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964 as a partnership and the name Nike was officially adopted on May 30, 1978. The infamous Nike Logo – Swoosh, was created for a fee of $35 by Carolyn Davidson, a graphics design student. In 1980, Nike becomes a publicly traded company with the completion of its Initial Public Offering of 2,377,000 shares of Class B Common Stock on New York Stock Exchange with the stock symbol NKE. Today, Nike employs over 27,000 people across the globe, and has net revenue in excess of $13 billion. The purpose of this paper is to provide investors with comprehensive information on Nike, its financial health and activities, its strength and weaknesses, and whether Nike creates value to its shareholders. This paper will analyze Nike’s capital structure, scope of international operations, recent stock performance, and dividend policy. We will examine how Nike’s international operations are conducted, its criticisms and strengths. Nike’s debt ratios, dividend payout ratios, dividend yield, and interest coverage ratios over the previous 5 years will be discussed and compared with industry benchmarks. Its bond ratings and the relation between the operating characteristics and its leverage will also be analyzed. Managers for Nike are creating value for shareholders by expanding Nike operations in foreign markets as much as possible. Nike’s sales and earnings outpaced Wall Street estimates FY 06. Nike’s sales reached $15 billion and its earnings per share were up 18%. Over the past 5 years, Nike’s earnings per share on compounded rate were up 20%, gross margins averaged 42% and in the past year, Nike delivered 44% margins in a period of rising costs. The current managers are maximizing shareholder’s wealth but in the footwear industry, Nike’s performance still falls. The footwear industry averaged about 14. 25%, while Nike’s growth in stock was 10. 48%. If the increase in value of shares is a benchmark of performance for managers, Nike’s performance is unimpressive. Nike has a Price to Book (MRQ) ratio of 3. 97, while the industry Nike competes in has a ratio of 3. 96. S;P 500 has a Price to Book (MRQ) ratio of 3. 90. Nike has a Price to Tangible Book (MRQ) ratio of 4. 26, while the industry has a ratio of 4. 44, and the S;P 500 has a ratio of 7. 22. The Nike brand itself is the biggest strength of Nike. Its other strengths include international operations where it is expanding aggressively, innovation of new products and ability to connect with its consumers. People’s perception of Nike as an exploiter of workers in developing nations, might cause considerable damage to its brand, and the poor performance of its stock relative to its industry is also one of its weaknesses. Nike’s managers must maximize shareholders wealth, which is not at its optimum level. As a world-renowned multi-national corporation, Nike has a presence in almost every nation. Nike itself started by importing athletic shoes from a Japanese company called Onitsuka Tiger Company. Nike earns more revenues from its international operations than its domestic market. Nike earned about $6. 5 billion FY 2005 from its international operations, compared to $5. 1 billion from its domestic market. International operations appear to be a key driver of Nike’s growth. Nike’s international operations are divided into 3 different regions. The EMEA region oversees operations in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. The Asia Pacific Region oversees operations in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. The Americas region oversees operations in South America, and North America (excluding United States). Europe, Middle East, ; Africa (EMEA) is headquartered in Hilversum, Netherlands. In terms of revenue, the EMEA is Nike’s second largest region. EMEA region contributed about $4. 3 billion in revenues for Nike. Of these, footwear revenues contributed $2. 5 billion, apparel revenues contributed $1. 5 billion and equipment revenues contributed $284.million. FY’05, 31% of Nike brand revenue was generated by sales in the EMEA region. This region is also the third largest in terms of manufacturing. EMEA region employs about 6,000 Nike employees, and has about 104 contract factories. These factories in addition, employ 29,242 workers. The Asia Pacific region is Nike’s third largest in terms of rev enue, and the largest in terms of manufacturing. Nike has 13 branch offices and subsidiaries in the Asia Pacific region. China has become both a source country and a vital market for Nike. Asia Pacific region has 3,282 Nike employees approximately. The region also has 252 contract factories located in North Asia, and 238 contract factories located in South Asia. Combined, these factories employ 550,821 workers. Nike’s revenues for year 2004 from its Asian operations were about $1. 6 billion. Of these revenues, approximately $855 million were from footwear sales, $612 million from apparel sales and $146 million from equipment sales. The Americas region is the smallest in terms of revenue 2nd largest in regards to manufacturing. The first Nike shoe ever contracted out was done in Mexico in 1971. For year 2003, the region provided Nike with revenues of $624 million. Of these revenues $412 million were from footwear sales, $166 million from apparel sales and $47 million from equipment sales. This region has approximately 1076 Nike employees and additional 44,568 workers working in 137 total contract factories. Nike has branch offices and subsidiaries in five countries. Some of the challenges that Nike has faced and still faces are in regards to its manufacturing facilities and violation of labor laws. Nike has been accused on numerous occasions of employing children in its factories or exploiting workers in developing countries. In response to these allegations, Nike implemented strict standards for manufacturing facilities, including minimum age, air quality, mandatory education programs, expansion of micro-loan programs, factory monitoring, and enhanced transparency of Nike’s corporate responsibility practices. In order to better its image, Nike even ceased orders from Pakistan in November 20, 2006 as the soccer-ball manufacturer there failed to correct labor-compliance violations. Examination of Nike’s debt ratios reveals that the company has less debt in proportion to its assets. In 2002, Nike had a debt ratio of . 404 with total assets being worth about $6. 44 billion, and total debt of $2. 60 billion. In 2003, Nike’s debt ratio increased to . 415, its total assets increased by $378. 1 million, and its total debt increased by $226. 4 million. Debt ratio fell to . 394 in 2004, and fell further in 2005 to . 358. In the year 2006, Nike’s debt ratio increased to . 363, and had total assets of $9. 87 billion and total debt of $3. 58 billion. Examination of Nike’s interest coverage ratio reveals that the firm can sufficiently pay outstanding debt. If one were to take only Nike’s interest coverage ratios into account, it can be said that Nike generates sufficient revenue to satisfy interest expenses. In the year 2002, Nike had an interest coverage ratio of 22. 43. This further increased to 29. 04 the following year with EBIT amounting $1. 25 billion and interest expense amounting to $42. 9 million. In the year 2004, interest coverage ratio increased phenomenally to 59, with EBIT being $1. 48 billion and interest expense being $25 million. Finally for the year 2005, the interest coverage ratio was 388. 485 with EBIT being $1. 86 billion and interest expense being $4.million. Nike has a 5-year average leverage ratio of 1. 5, the industry leverage ratio is about 1. 5, and S;P 500 Index has a leverage of 4. 9. The firm’s leverage shows that Nike is using long-term debt, and it is measurable and appropriate. The operating characteristics include volume of sales in tune of $13,739. 7 million FY 2005, $12,739. 7 million sales in 2004, $10,697. 0 million sales in 2003, 9893. 0 million sales in 2002, and 9488. 8 million sales in 2001. These financial conditions indicate that Nike, Inc. percentages are not high and provide protection for the stockholders. Nike’s bond ratings by Moody for Senior Unsecured loan has a rating of A2, an Aa3 rating for Credit Default Swap, Aaa for Equity-Implied, and an A2 rating for Bond-implied. Nike pays dividends to its shareholders every quarter. In the past 5 years, Nike’s dividends ranged from $. 12 a share in March of 2002 to $. 37 a share in December of 2006. Nike’s dividend rate is much higher than both the industry average, and the S;P 500 Index. For the last 12 months, the dividend rate paid by Nike was 1. 48; while the industry average was . 32, and the S;P index dividend rate was . 74. Nike’s annual dividend yield is about 1. 0%, while the payout ratio is 24%. K-Swiss, one of Nike’s competitors has an annual dividend rate of . 20, annual dividend yield of . 60% and a payout ratio of 9%. Skechers USA, another competitor, paid no dividends. The dividend yield of S;P 500 was 2. 06%, while the dividend yield in the footwear industry was 1. 44%. The payout ratio f or the footwear industry was 20. 37%, and the S;P payout ratio was 28. 23%. Although, S;P 500 performed better than Nike in regards to dividend yield and payout ratio, one has to take into account that in footwear industry, Nike’s dividend yield and payout ratio were considerably higher than its competitors. In regards to its dividend policy, Nike is very attractive, and is very much â€Å"ahead of the pack†. Nike also has a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP) and allows its shareholders to participate in it through its Nike Direct-SERVICE Program. Through this program, shareholders can convert their cash dividends into shares at a significant discount to the current share price. Nike has a market value of $24. 41 billion. Approximately 1. 33 million shares are traded daily on average. Over the course of 5 years, Nike’s stock price went from $56. 92 as of Jan 2, 2002 to $97. 45 as of Dec 11, 2006 – an increase of 71. 5%. The graph below illustrates Nike’s 5 Year trend. In the recent year, the firm’s shares were traded as high as $99. 30, and as low as $75. 52. The firm started with a stock price of $85. 95 in the beginning of the year and as of December 12, 2006 closed at $96. 57 – a . 90% decrease from the previous day. The stock performance trend reveals that Nike experiences a greater loss during the months of August and September, and greater gains in October thru December, which is the holiday season. The graph below shows Nike’s stock performance trend in the recent year. The chart below shows growth in Footwear Industry in comparison to S&P 500 index. In conclusion, Nike’s future growth would primarily derive from its foreign operations. As the footwear industry in the domestic market has slowed, Nike has to expand aggressively in foreign markets. Nike pays more dividends in comparison to its competitors; the firm should reinvest that money in aggressive expansion in foreign markets rather than giving back the shareholders the profit. Nike’s returns are also significantly less than the S&P 500 index and within its own industry.