Nike Inc.

Further, Nike's strong and innovative product pipeline continues to meet changing customer expectations and provides a strong competitive advantage over other large players. The company is scaling its investments in platforms such as React and Air, helping fuel demand across both its performance and sportswear segments. We believe Nike's ramped-up product innovation will continue to support top line growth. The stable outlook reflects S&P Global Ratings' expectation that Nike will maintain its strong operating performance based on the global strength of its brand, ongoing product innovations, pricing power, and expanding global distribution and DTC network. We expect leverage will remain below 1x. We could lower the ratings if Nike undertakes more aggressive shareholder returns or makes a sizable debt-financed acquisition

...Nike continues to demonstrate top line growth benefiting from strong product innovation and expansion in China. Nike Inc. demonstrates its ability to expand sales above the industry average despite significant foreign currency headwinds, posting a five-year compound annual revenue growth rate for fiscals 2016-2019 of about 5%. It is expanding across all regions, including recently returning to growth in its North American market. China is the fastest expanding region, posting about 20% year-on-year sales growth in fiscal 2019. Nike continues to develop products that resonate with Chinese consumers and sponsors top athletes, teams, and federations to gain from China's increasing participation in sports and fitness. We continue to expect strong growth in China to drive Nike's revenue expansion over the next 1-2 years. Further, Nike's strong and innovative product pipeline continues to meet changing customer expectations and provides a strong competitive advantage over other large players....

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