The Sell-Side Reaction To Nike's Q2

Shares of Nike Inc NKE gained nearly 1 percent on Wednesday following its much anticipated second-quarter earnings results, which included top- and bottom-line beats.

Here is a summary of how Wall Street analysts reacted to the print.

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley's Jay Sole maintains an Equal-weight rating on Nike's stock with a $56 price target.

According to Sole, Nike hasn't demonstrated to the investment community that it has any positive catalysts in its pipeline. In fact, the company's 4-percent decline in North America futures came at a time when the market is expecting an improvement.

"The market will have to see new Nike products steal fashion momentum away from the competition before getting more excited," Sole argued. "This is unlikely until spring at the earliest."

Goldman Sachs

Lindsay Drucker Mann of Goldman Sachs maintains a Buy rating on Nike's stock with a price target lowered to $61 from a previous $62.

According to the analyst, bears will hone in on Nike's declining futures for the North American market, but this isn't necessarily a great metric to evaluate Nike's business.

Drucker Mann added that the futures metric has disconnected from sales for quite some time, and Nike's upbeat sales guidance in North America is a "stronger signal in our view than the futures."

Citi

Citi's Kate McShane maintains a Buy rating on Nike's stock with a $60 price target.

McShane noted that investors should have more confidence in Nike's story after the earnings print as opposed to before for a few key reasons, including: 1) growth in the North American market, 2) renewed momentum in basketball, 3) improvement in direct to consumer comps, 4) wholesale inventories rose just one percent as opposed to 3 percent last quarter and 5) ongoing improvements in the supply chain.

"Though other global brands are showing increased momentum, we think NKE has the scale & brand power to maintain share in still a growing category," the analyst concluded.

Barclays

Matthew McClintock of Barclays maintains an Overweight rating on Nike's stock with a $65 price target.

According to McClintock, Nike's long-term innovation story hasn't changed and the company is on track toward a re-acceleration of growth within the next few quarters.

The analyst also highlighted Nike's momentum in basketball, which is expected to continue and return to positive territory in the bottom half of next year.

"We believe Nike has a strategic, cohesive plan driven by long term high single digits annual revenue growth and mid-teens EPS growth," the analyst stated.