Nike has overcome rising costs and new competition in both the online and offline sales channels to post market-thumping sales and profit growth. The footwear and sports apparel giant’s financial resources are a major asset. It intends to press that advantage to keep rivals in catch-up mode. Evidence of that strategy is the company's recent acquisition of the data analytics company Celect and with Nike's aggressive spending on marketing, research and development, and the direct-to-consumer sales channel. At the same time, the growth stock is cutting in places that aren’t delivering healthy returns, including by developing fewer products and discontinuing models when they don't quickly resonate with consumers. These initiatives impact selling expenses, which ticked slightly higher to more than 31 per cent of sales last quarter.

Nike expects sales growth to accelerate in fiscal 2020. This may be possible by efforts at raising gross profit margin through more direct-to-consumer sales. On the other hand, if Nike stumbled in the weeks gross profit margin should also expand, leading to earnings growth in the mid-single digits. China accounted for nearly a quarter of Nike’s global growth last year. At home, its success in standing out against rivals like Under Armour will depend on Nike's continued ability to launch popular new products.