After Hours: Nike, Guess post rise in quarterly profit

Mar.19, 2008 in Market Outlook

Nike, Guess turn in higher profit; shares gain

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

Last Update: 7:07 PM ET Mar 19, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Shares of Nike Inc. and Guess Inc. rose Wednesday
evening after the apparel makers posted a rise in quarterly profit.

Nike (NKE) shares climbed 3.8% to close at $64.15. The world’s largest
athletic-shoe maker said third-quarter profit rose to $463.8 million, or 92 cents
a share, from $350.8 million, or 68 cents, a year earlier. Sales leaped to $4.54
billion from $3.93 billion. Analysts estimated earnings of 80 cents a share on
sales of $4.36 billion, according to FactSet Research.

Guess (GES) shares rose 1.3% to end at $34.60. The Los Angeles apparel maker
reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $55.2 million, or 59 cents a share, from
$45.9 million, or 49 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue increased
to $514.6 million from $396.2 million a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet
Research expected earnings of 57 cents on revenue of $467.2 million.

The company’s board also approved a share buyback program of up to $200 million.

Guess forecast first-quarter revenue of $445 million to $460 million, on earnings
of 44 cents to 46 cents a share and 2009 earnings of $2.35 to $2.45 a share,
compared with Wall Street’s outlook for sales of $448 million on earnings of 47
cents a share.

Elsewhere, shares of Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER) rose 1.2% to $41.95. They slid 11%
to $41.45 in dayside trading after the broker filed a lawsuit against bond
insurer Security Capital Assurance (SCA) claiming that the company is trying to
back out of more than $3 billion of obligations under seven credit default swap
contracts.

Apollo Investment Corp. (AINV) topped volume movers as its shares moved onto the
S&P MidCap 400 Index. They closed up a penny, to $16.50. Apollo replaces
MoneyGram International on the index.

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