Athletic footwear manufacturer Nike, Inc. received a little help from the Rio de Janeiro Games this summer.
Though Nike saw a drop in sales during the second quarter of 2016, the Summer Olympics helped inflate the stock of the largest athletic gear maker worldwide, reported Fortune. Beating the expectations of analysts, revenue increased to $9.1 billion, a growth of 8 percent, according to the most recent quarterly results.
Net profit increased to 73 cents per share, also beating economist forecasts of 56 cents.
“This summer proved just how powerful sport can be around the world,” said CEO and Chairman Mark Parker to investors during a conference call.
Parker also said that shoes and activewear apparel were performing better than their counterpart categories at large. Helped by the excitement of track and field events, the running category posted double-digit growth. It was the most impressive sales ever recorded in the segment for Nike.
In comparison to the same quarter last year, sales in the largest region for the manufacturer – North America – increased 6 percent to $4 billion, reported Forbes.
Future orders were up 5 percent, though still came in below the 8 percent growth estimated by analysts surveyed by Consensus Metrix. As a strong gauge of demand for Nike in the coming months, future orders indicate worrisome competition from Adidas and Under Armour.
