Nike holiday sales top estimates, helped by better than expected North America growth

Nike on Thursday reported holiday sales that beat estimates, helped by better than expected growth in North America.

Here's how the company performed compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

The company's reported net income for the three-month period that ended Feb. 29 was $1.17 billion, or 77 cents per share, compared with $1.24 billion, or 79 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding 21 cents per share related to restructuring charges, earnings per share would have been 98 cents, the company said.

Sales rose to $12.43 billion, up slightly from $12.39 billion a year earlier.

In North America, where demand has been unsteady, sales rose about 3% to $5.07 billion, compared with estimates of $4.75 billion, according to StreetAccount.

Meanwhile, sales in the rest of Nike's regions came in below estimates. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, revenue fell 3% to $3.14 billion, worse than the $3.17 billion that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. In China, sales grew 5% to $2.08 billion, just below the $2.09 billion analysts had expected. Sales in Asia Pacific and Latin America rose 3% to $1.65 billion, below the $1.69 billion analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount.

As consumers pull back on spending on discretionary items like clothes and shoes, Nike has spent the last few months focused on what it can control: cutting costs and becoming more efficient so it can drive profits and protect its margins. 

In December, it announced a broad restructuring plan to cut costs by about $2 billion over the next three years. It also cut its sales guidance as it warned of softer demand in the quarters ahead. 

Two months later, it said it was