Nike Inc (NKE)

(A Top Pick March 16/15. Up 20.8%.) Had a 2 for one stock split. Sales in China were awesome with something like 35% more basketball shoes. Sold his holdings last fall, almost at the peak, when it was trading at 30X earnings. Still pretty highly valued. Would prefer it in the low 20X earnings.

World’s largest maker of apparel and footwear. Footwear is 60% of their revenue. They continue to do well across all lines in key geographies, including China. Their big opportunity is in women’s apparel on a go forward basis. Have beaten consensus earnings in the last 14 consecutive quarters. Recently announced a 14% dividend increase and a $12 billion share buyback. Growth rate is probably 14-15%. The recent weakness, down to the 200 day moving average, represents a good buying opportunity. Dividend yield of 1.09%.

You have to love the stock. It just keeps on going. It is in a long term upward trend so you have to assume it will continue to do well. It is time to buy runners for the Christmas season.

Record high today. He wishes he owned it. He underestimated their earnings. You will go up and down with the market. Great brand and a great company.

Has an incredible balance sheet, which drives a virtuous cycle of reinvestment. It is a dominant brand in sports retail. The consumer has been the one bright light in the market. Very low levels of debt. Has extremely fast growth of 16%, 17%, 18%. Dividend yield of 0.89%.

The best performing Dow component this year. They had a very good year last year, which was basically because of the World Cup. It was doubtful that they would outperform on the earnings side this year, but they have. Had some issues in China and he thinks China is going to be the growth area for them. Dividend yield of 1.01%.

It is consumer discretionary and so fits clearing into his theme of consumers spending money. They now sell to consumers coordinated outfits. They are buying back a lot of stock and achieving double digit growth in China. They are doing a great job of growing. As long as it can continue to execute the multiple can continue to expand.

Great company. Trading at a fairly reasonable multiple. There is a lot of growth here. They have a ton of great athletes. Valuation is reasonable and they seem to be hitting all of their marks.

Will be reporting on Thursday. In the last quarter, they reported 15% growth, a lot of it from China in shoes. They have a whole bunch of avenues. They are in every sport. The soft sport for them is golf. The US$ is a headwind for them as it is for a lot of US multinationals, so you have to watch that. Yield of 1.16%.

Catalysts are the marketing and the brand. The growth will be in China. Earnings blew the doors off. They are close to support levels. 87.59 would be the stop level.

Looking at this from a 3-5 year timeframe, it is a Buy. An excellent company. Extremely focused on innovation. The next quarter should look pretty good, just on the back of what we are seeing from the World Cup side of things.

This is a great brand in consumer products. You have to realize that we are heading into World Cup, and the stock is somewhat underperforming. They obviously have a huge opportunity. The only problem he sees is that in general, consumer discretionary is lagging a little. They have a lot of opportunity globally to grow. Have a real push on in fitness oriented electronics. This is a sector that he is not so focused on right now. Also the company is not behaving as one of the strongest companies within the group.

Seasonality is neutral at this time of year. Looking at chart, this one is having some difficulties. A couple of days ago it broke support. You don’t want to be there right now.

An interesting name, but a bit stretched in terms of multiple. Prefers another sporting name.

Has done extremely well but he feels it has gotten a little bit ahead of itself in the Chinese market, which is a very important market for them. This is affecting their results. Have been a real trendsetter globally. Coming out with sneakers that are worth $350 and these types of things are starting to bite. They are pricing a little bit ahead of the curve.