Nike will release its first quarter earnings report
today and on CNBC's "The Edge," Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
footwear & apparel analyst Josephine Esquivel said, "We're
expecting those orders to be flat." When asked what Nike is
"doing right," Esquivel said, "They've gotten the footwear
product right. It's probably the most exciting line-up of
products coming up for this back-to-school period. ... They
haven't been quite as effective turning around their apparel
business, although we do expect them to be doing so for
spring of 2000." Esquivel, on Nike's online initiative:
"That area is going to be a pretty small piece of their
business. This is a nearly nine billion dollar company, and
we'd be amazed if they did ten or twenty million dollars
this year in their e-commerce business." Esquivel, on
Nike's partnership with Mia Hamm: "The benefits could be
great, because the Women's World Cup has been a phenomenal
marketing coup. ... So having [Hamm] as their endorser ...
will do a lot for them in the business of girls sports, as
well as penetrating the soccer market, which they're a very,
very distant player in" ("The Edge," CNBC, 6/29).
